ruff draft and i do mean ruff

Neva Huber
Research Paper
4/30/11
Ruff Draft
In The Scarlet Letter , Hester Prynne is a strong willed and determined signal
mother of Pearl, her daughter from an affair with Dimsdale, Hester lives with the guilt of
her sin, reminded by her daughter everyday. Despite this Hester takes control of her live
by keeping her land and creating her own business she makes enough money to care for
Pearl and herself. In this paper I will be comparing Hester and my life as signal mothers
in completely different settings, one being seventeenth century and the other being
twentieth century cultures and societies and their believes.
Hester’s struggles are similar to the daily struggles that I my self go through in
my daily life as a signal mother, even though I did not have an affair, I am divorced and
raising my daughter on my own, also I work part time and go to school in order to provide
a great future financially for me and my daughter. Today’s society is much different from
the seventieth century, there are some similarities and many differences. Today it is still
seen as a sin to have an affair but it is not as strongly felt, some religions feel that
marriage should never end in divorce but that’s not always the case.
Hester Prynne was looked down upon by the society because of her sins, in the
seventh teeth century this was considered extremely sinful, but in the twentieth century
today this is not as looked upon so strongly, except that some religions in my case do not
believe in divorce and believe in the sanctum of marriage. Also signal moms get more
opportunities and are actually applauded of their jobs as signal mothers they work even
harder than others in some cases they may work two jobs and create lives for their
families, we all struggle with providing food, shelter, clothing and education for our
children. In Hester’s case she did not raise Pearl of their societies beliefs of the puritan
ways that everyone knew. She let Pearl choose her own ways, more of a radical and
unstructured way of life for Pearl.
I would also like to compare Hester’s inner strength, her willingness to keep going
on and this is what I am a strong woman, a successful woman, a mother and provider,
despite the every day struggles of living day to day. Not only has Hester survived sin and
raising her child she also gets true love in the end. I my self have suffered many losses in
my life, my brother, my mother and being a victim of domestic violence, has only made
me stronger, and pushes me to keep moving forward no matter how much I want to give
up. But most of all I can compare Hester’s honesty and compassion with my very own
honesty and compassion it is this exact description that characterizes both me and Hester
Prynne.