Hart once said, "No child can escape his community The life of the community flows about him, foul or pure; he swims in it, goes to sleep in it, and wakes to the new days to find it still about him. He belongs to it" it nourishes or starves him, or poisons him; it gives him the substance of his life." Community plays a large role in everyone's life; Pearl and Hester of The Scarlet Letter, LeAlan Jones, Lloyd Newman, Eric Morse and his killers, of Ghetto Life 101 and Remorse, and the rest of the world. The four aspects of community are neighborhood, peers or friends, family, and faith. Although, as an individual, a person shapes their own identity; nevertheless, the community that the person lives in plays a significant role in their actions, beliefs, and decisions.
Hester Prynne's neighborhood greatly influenced her identity. Although she had already grown up, her personality changed greatly after the labeling of her sin, adultery. Hester's town was very strict with the punishment of sins and the citizens frowned upon many things. Public displays of a person's crime were common. Some may think that the simple task of wearing a scarlet letter is no big deal, but try to raise a child who questions almost everything while wearing the letter. Her town branded Hester for all that saw her to know of her sin.
Before the trial and the standing on the scaffold, Hester was viewed as a nice, pretty, young, puritan woman whom no one would really expect of committing this adulterous act. The frowns, the scoffs, the casual comments, the seclusion, the whispers of rumors being passed around town, all of these would lead a person to change their lifestyle. For fear of these, Hester kept herself and her child secluded and, for fear of making her town more angry with her, she did not put herself out in the open for attack.
Strangely enough, since the town scowled upon her at first, eventually the citizens almost forgave but more like forgot about her sin.
Andrea Procopio Biology Essay 11/21/00 Period 2 The Beginning Of Life How did life originate? There are no witnesses who can actually describe what happened, and there is no direct evidence to investigate (BSCS). Answers to these questions took a large amount of time and investigation in or...
