For my independent reading this quarter I am reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. So far in my reading Hawthorne makes many references to Puritanism and the society they live in. In my AP United States History class we have learned about the Puritans society and their way of life that is also written in this book. Only in the first two chapters I have already made many connections with what I am learning in history.
In the first chapter a reference is made to Anne Hutchinson, who was a women in the Puritan society in the colonial America, in which she rebelled against church officials and led her own sermons to worship Christ. Hutchinson was a saint to many among the women Puritan society, however she was exiled from the colony for her "wrong" religious duties and was later killed in a Native American attack. Hawthorne also includes references to the Quakers and witchcraft in the literature. In describing the town in which the story takes place the author adds, "people amongst whom religion and law are almost identical," which is a direct relation to a theocratic government.
