This was my first time reading “The Scarlet Letter.” I didn’t have the opportunity to read it in high school, so I went into this with an open mind. While the actual story is full of important themes like sins, human nature, and starting new, I found the first chapter, The Custom-House, to be very interesting because it is Hawthorne’s own voice.
Something that really stuck out to me was how Hawthorne wrote about finding his home in the world. He speaks a lot about his internal battle with his home in Salem. I found it interesting how divided he was in his thinking. He explained that there was something about Salem that called to him and how he “felt it almost a destiny to make Salem my home” (431). However, at the same time, he feels that if someone stays in the same place for too long, it can become detrimental and “human nature will not flourish, more than a potato” (431).
I found this dichotomy between what Hawthorne considers to be his home and also what he believes is helpful for human nature in everyone finding their own home interesting. He gets very philosophical and begins connecting nature and humans as he tries to explain how humans can thrive on the earth. Finding home is such a human instinct because one feels safe and protected at home. However, at the same time, one must not cut themselves off from opportunities that may be in other spaces or with different people.
Finding a home, and what that means, is also a huge theme in the novel!
Your blog reminds me of a section earlier in the novel in Chapter II when Hawthorne was describing Hester Prynne’s memories of her childhood:
“Standing on that miserable eminence, she saw again her native village, in Old England, and her paternal home; a decayed house of gray stone, with a poverty-stricken aspect, but retaining a half-obliterated shield of arms over the portal, in token of antique gentility.” (Hawthorne pg. 458)
I agree that Hawthorne does not deny sentimental values of home, particularly the comfort and feel of longing that it fulfills, it’s just that he also acknowledges that in order to grow as a person you must leave the bubble. Nevertheless, his soft spot for the familiarity and nostalgia shines throughout the novel. Here, instead of trying to put to words how lonely Hester Prynne felt, he described her memories of home and let the imagery do the rest in conveying that emotion.