{"id":1394227,"date":"2016-10-31T16:00:53","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T20:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.sparknotes.com\/?p=1394227"},"modified":"2017-02-23T16:24:22","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T21:24:22","slug":"the-scarlet-letter-sparknotes-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/the-scarlet-letter-sparknotes-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogging The Scarlet Letter<\/i>: Part 9 (Chapters 18-20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Blogging The Scarlet Letter<\/em>. Last time<\/a>, \u00a0Hester and Dimmesdale decided to flee Massachusetts. \u00a0Will Pearl be cool with it?<\/p>\n

Chapter 18: A Flood of Sunshine<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a about hundred and seventy pages, Hawthorne has decided to reveal the saucier parts of \u00a0Hester and Dimmesdale’s relationship. Why does this \u00a0take so long? Because \u00a0there are more important things to \u00a0life than clandestine romances. Things that deserve our undivided attention. Things like \u00a0scaffolds.<\/p>\n

Currently, Hester and Dimmesdale \u00a0are still in the woods discussing their potential move to rural France. \u00a0Dimmesdale seems \u00a0pretty set on \u00a0skipping town \u00a0at this point, \u00a0but clearly he’s panicking on the inside. \u00a0Here’s the gist of his thought process:<\/p>\n

Pros of leaving<\/u>: \u00a0No Chillingworth, current mood: \u00a0“trammelled” by the regulations and prejudices of the Puritan social system, Hester sustains him, will feel less like a hollowed-out potato, already irrevocably doomed, \u00a0croissants >.<\/p>\n

Cons of leaving<\/span>: 100% chance the \u00a0entire congregation \u00a0will become a flock \u00a0of \u00a0delinquents \u00a0hurtling through time and space into Satan’s \u00a0open arms, \u00a0WWJD? \u00a0Not this.<\/p>\n

I \u00a0embellished (croissants), but you get the point. He’s torn. By contrast, Hester, who has been living this whole time in “a moral wilderness; vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest,” gives little to no \u00a0Fs:<\/p>\n

So speaking, she undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, this answers all my questions about the technicalities of wearing the \u00a0letter every day for seven years. \u00a0It’s basically \u00a0a glorified employee badge. Second, it’s worth noting that \u00a0Hester tries to lob the A<\/em> \u00a0into The Brook and \u00a0misses. It lands \u00a0on the bank, “glittering like a lost jewel.” \u00a0Reference point:<\/p>\n