Scarlet Letter

            
             "The door of the jail being flung open from within, there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and grisly presence of the town beadle, with a sword by his side, and his staff of office in his hand. Stretching forth the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward; until, on the threshold of the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity, and force of character, she stepped into the open air, as if by her own free-will. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winked and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day; because its existence, heretofore had brought it acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison.".
             This is how the reader is introduced to Hester Prynne, the main character in the Scarlet Letter. As one reads the novel we see how she develops as a person. The reader feels the conflicts that the characters go through as they go through them. They see the style of writing that Nathaniel Hawthorne uses throughout the novel.
             Before the start of he novel Hester Prynne has a baby, Pearl. This baby was the force that changed all of Hester Prynne's life. Throughout the novel the reader sees how Hester Prynne develops from a social disgrace to a social worker and one who the people look to for advise and help. The reader sees how she grew into her scarlet letter and how she learned to accept it, instead of fear it. They see her learn to use the scarlet letter to her advantage, and respect it. For example: towards the beginning of the novel she fears the scarlet letter and everything it does to her, and as the reader nears the end of the novel they see Hester Prynne and how the whole entire meaning of the scarlet letter has changed from a meaning of "adultery" to the meaning of "able".