Entry one: chapter 1-5 setting

 
"In either case, there was very much the same solemnity of demeanour on the part of the spectators; as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful " (34, Nathaniel Hawthorne). The novel takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, in a puritan society where religion in very much integrated into the townspeople's every thought. Religion and law were so alike that there was no difference between the smallest of sins and the most severe, everyone would get punished alike in public and endure the humiliation. 

"It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue" (35, Nathaniel Hawthorne). The story begins in the summer one morning. The women in the crowd are are excited to see the punishment being iven to the nex transgressor. these people get enjoyment from watching others being publicly humiliated. 

"But there is no record of Hester ever making a white veil to cover the pure blushes of a bride. This exception indicated the relentless condemnation society reserved for her sin" (57,Nathaniel Hawthorne). Hester would make beautiful garments for all occasions. It might seem like the towns people have forgotten that she was a sinner and was condemned to be shunned, it wasn't so. They still never let her taint a pure wedding with her sin. These people will never forgive nd forget. ONce a transgressor always a transgressor. People will never get back the lives that they have lost after committing a sin. There is no such thing as forgiveness in this town. 

This puritan society and the society in live in today aren't much different. Once someone does one thing that might seem wrong they are talked about, and shunned and looked at as an outcast. This applies to high school and the community I live in. There might be similarities, but we aren't as bad as the puritans. The puritan society gives much harsher punishments and is much less understanding. 

(G-d shining down from heavan.)