Saturday, 2 January 2016

How does Chapter 21 deepen our understanding of Puritan culture in The Scarlet Letter?

This chapter shows us
that even the Puritans can enjoy a festival and themselves. The narrator says that the
celebration of the holiday invites an "unwonted jollity" from the inhabitants of
Boston and that

the Puritans compressed whatever mirth and
public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary
cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared scarcely more grave than most
other communities at a period of general affliction.


Hawthorne pokes a little fun here at the Puritans, suggesting that, on the day when
they display the most joy, they only seem a little bit more serious and somber than any other
society would if they were suffering from some community-wide problem. In other words, then,
they are incredibly sober and strict so that even their holidays and celebrations are super
subdued, but they are, ultimately, capable of some joy and enjoyment. The narrator
continues,

But we perhaps exaggerate the gray or sable
tinge, which undoubtedly characterized the mood and manners of the age.


He admits that there is some variety among the inhabitants of
Boston and that he has exaggerated the degree of the Puritans' severity to an extent. Hawthorne
was no fan of the Puritans, in part because of the significant role his ancestor, John
Hawthorne, played in the Salem Witch Trials, so he certainly had an agenda with their
depiction.

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