The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne · first published 1800
8mentions
1recommended by
7HN commenters
2015–2026first – last mentioned
14% recommend57% neutral29% critical
A stark and allegorical tale of adultery, guilt, and social repression in Puritan New England, The Scarlet Letter is a foundational work of American literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne's exploration of the dichotomy between the public and private self, internal passion and external convention, gives us the unforgettable Hester Prynne, who discovers strength in the face of ostracism and emerges as a heroine ahead of her time.
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I thought everyone was supposed to read Nathanial Hawthorne’s “Scarlet Letter” in high school. Maybe it should return to being required reading.
on “White Women Need Not Apply” ↗…criticizing everyone as being unable to see what you see. One possibility is that you might be overreacting. But to be clear, to me, the wording that they used seems to specifically indicate the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathanial Hawthorne. This is a culturally significant phrasing with frequent repetition, which is non-offensive, and unlike a mention of the Nazis, actually makes sense in context. In the rest of…
> Everybody tends to white wash [the Puritan regime] because they had high literacy rates and treated women better than most at the time. I don't think this squares with The Scarlet Letter being read in just about every high school in the US.
on “The Treaty That Forced the Cherokee People from Their Homelands Goes on View” ↗…works because it's a comedy that keeps you interested. (And I only say "similar" instead of "the same" because although I can remember what the A was, I can't remember anything about the narrative in The Scarlet Letter) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_A
on “White Women Need Not Apply” ↗Some of them are also just badly written, like The Scarlet Letter - the impression that stuck with me was it took way too long to get to the point, so much so that the second half of the book contained needed context for the first half to have any meaning at all. And…
on “The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel” ↗…people whose lives will be damaged disproportionate to their crime, and I think that's extremely unfortunate. Edit: I can't recommend it as a literary work, but the themes and lessons of Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" are directly and immediately relevant here.
on “Online Cheating Site AshleyMadison Hacked” ↗…Pullman) - The Secret Commonwealth (Phillip Pullman) - Valuable Humans in Transit (qntm) - Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - Sunrise on the Reaping (Suzanne Collins) - Ringworld (Larry Niven) - The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) - Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) - Foundation (Isaac Asimov)
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗…Inherit the Wind --- Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee The Butt --- Will Self Inside Outside --- Philip Jose Farmer The Panda Theory --- Pascal Garnier Fanshaw --- Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter --- Nathaniel Hawthorne This Census-Taker --- China Mieville The House of the Seven Gables --- Nathaniel Hawthorne The A26 --- Pascal Garnier The Blithedale Romance --- Nathaniel Hawthorne…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗