The Rose Bush and Hester: Reader Reaction to Chapters 1-4

Nathaniel Hawthorne continues to bore the reader to sleep by using overly-sophisticated language in order to convey simple plot details. Reading through the first four chapters was very time consuming and was quite tiresome. However, in the time spent digging through the thick language in search of a deeper plot line, an easily understandable plot emerged.

Hester, an adulteress, has been put in jail and charged for her crimes against the community with a brand, the letter A. The symbol of her affair with a member of the clergy is her daughter Pearl. Hester interacts with Arthur Dimmesdale and Robert Chillingsworth during the first chapters. As she walks out of the town jail, she is harassed by the townsfolk. She stays at a scaffold to be jeered at, where Dimmesdale asks her to reveal the father. She declines and upon looking into the distance, sees Chillingsworth with a Native American. He returns to Hester at the jail as a doctor, confirming to the reader that he is Hester's husband, whom she had thought had died or had been lost forever.

So what does the plot show? Nothing really at this point. It's almost too simple. Dimmesdale asks her to reveal the father only to repent his own sins, but Hester refusal to tell the community causes Dimmesdale to become entangled in the storyline. Hester's refusal to say that Dimmesdale is the father also leads to Chillingsworth's desire to discover who the father is. She has become entwined with both men, and from the looks of the story so far, nothing good or grand is going to come out of this novel.

One interesting aspect of the book however is Hawthorne's ability to compare like objects, without actually saying they're alike. Hawthorne does leave a lot of information out in the open, but imagery seems to be one hidden in the shadows of the story. A symbol talked about briefly in the first chapter of the book was the rose bush, sitting in front of the ominous jail with the Bowser-esque door. Inside this door is the Princess Peach and the Super Mario Bros. analogy continues. I digress. The rose bush is discussed as something in front of the door, giving hope to the jail's captives, but Hawthorne also eludes to a deeper meaning in discussing how the rose bud thrives throughout humanity's time on earth. He says,

"The rose bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the gigantic pines and oaks that originally over-shadowed it,-or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the foot steps of the sainted Anne Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door" (Hawthorne 46).

In this passage, Hawthorne is by no means directly talking about the rose bush that is in front of the jail. Instead, he talks about the meaning of the rose bush and how it has been around in the earliest times of human history. Discussing the fall of "gigantic pines and oaks", Hawthorne refers to deforestation that is occurring during the time in which he wrote the novel. For 300 years following the arrival of Europeans in North America, population growth was directly tied to deforestation. For agricultural purposes, trees were removed in order to create farmland to sustain the growing population of the British colonies. As the trees were removed, time passed and populations soared. As time continues on, new ideas are founded. If we equate trees to tradition, firmly rooted in the ground, the removal of these traditions ultimately leads to enlightenment and new ideas. When a forest fire destroys the landscape, new life can spring from the charred remains of the gigantic oaks and pines. Therefore, the rose bush symbolizes new ideas and beliefs, growing out of the shadows of the gigantic pines and oaks. It sits outside the jail, the focal point of the town, built by Puritans, who establish a rigid society in order to protect themselves from becoming uncivilized. This bush "had sprung up under the foot steps of the sainted Anne Hutchinson", a member of the early colonies who defected to her own form of beliefs. As the jail removes more free-thinking and free-acting from the Puritan society, the rose bush stands as a symbol of hope that new ideas will have the chance to grow and prosper.

So here's where Hester comes in. She has done something against traditional belief in almost all modern religions; adultery. Regardless if it is wrong to do so or not, it is an idea that goes against tradition, therefore fitting into the mold of the rose bush. Hawthorne confirms that Hester is similar to the rose bush at the end of chapter 1. He says, "Finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal, we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers, and present it to the reader" (Hawthorne 46).

OK, ready? Since Hester represents our non-traditionalist character in a heavily traditional time period, why not make her crime against tradition as radical as adultery? She is our blossom, walking into the jail after performing an extremely heretical act. She is the hope of new ideas and free thinking, seen by her actions that led her to jail and her actions in the face of the community. She stands against Dimmesdale's plea to be recognized as the father rather than allowing him to get away from it easily. She knit her own brand for her dress, making it ornate and intricate, standing against what the Puritan society had attempted to humiliate her with.  Not only is she not ashamed of her actions, but she embraces it, rather than conforming. Never in history has a radical belief ever changed the course of historical events unless those who harbored those beliefs were stalwart against giving up their freedom to think freely.


On a side note: What does it mean to get a rose on Valentines day?

Roses have been symbols of passion and love ever since the modern tradition of Valentines day has been around. You gives roses to those you cherish the most; even The Bachelor on TV uses roses to show passion between the contestants and their bachelor. What is more fitting than a mother's love for her child than the comparison to a rose? Hester's love for her daughter Pearl shows her ability to stand up for herself but recognize her actions and accept them. Her defiance to recognize the letter A as a brand that her child was born sinfully goes against everything the Puritans have attempted to make her feel guilty for. Although roses are beautiful, they hold many thorns. Hester's love for Pearl is full of passion, but is also surrounded by the painful reminder that she was the product of an affair with another man, not her husband.

The novel has been long so far, but if you look deep enough and past the obvious "give mes" Hawthorne throws out, you can create some wonderful comparisons. Enjoy reading on, no matter how long it feels