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Raven Cash
Brittney Head
Demi Torres

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Pearl has a hard time interacting with children her age but seems to have a special bond with nature. The forest is her place of peace.  (Hawthorne, page 92, chapter 6).

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The forest represents freedom, and is in the book to contrast with the Puritan town. Puritan society is a society full of strict ruling, with harsh punishments and unnatural laws. However, the forest is a place where Puritan code does not rule. Other Puritans fear the mystery and danger of the forest. It is a part of the book because it is a place free of sin; it is where witches, like Mistress Hibbins, wander, it is where Dimmesdale and Hester finally meet, disregarding the Puritan laws that forbid these actions.
The symbol and themes of the forest bring greater meaning to the story because it brings strong contrast between the two worlds of the strict Puritan civilization and the free, wild wilderness. While Puritan society is seen as good and pure, the forest can be seen as sinful, where the "Black Man" resides. However, the freedom of these sins brings a relief to characters like Hester and Dimmesdale. It also shows that there can be both good and bad to a world without religious ruling. On one hand, the forest can be seen as a place of evil, where Hester's cottage is when she is exiled, where witches come to do Satan's work; it can be seen as where sin goes unpunished, as the Puritans do. However, it can also be seen as free and liberating, where lovers like Hester and Dimmesdale can meet at last with no judgment, where one can escape from oppressive and exhausting Puritan control, and where the only things in control is nature, and one's self.

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Once Dimmesdale and Hester organize their plan, they are overcome with happiness and the forest experiences a flood of sunshine. The forest is typically described as gloomy but the joy of the lovers has the power of enhancing the beauty of their surroundings (Hawthorne, page 199, chapter 18).

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the forest is used as multi meaningful setting in the relation to the stories plot, mood, and overall theme. The forest represented a small portion of freedom from the stories and characters inner evils,  With Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale  meeting and feeling  free of their sins and feeling no judgement; as well as also being the grounds for evildoing with witchcraft and sinful acts being committed in such forest. In the article, it is described that Hawthorne used this particular symbol in multiple works, including Young Goodman Brown , Roger Malvin's Burial and of course the Scarlet Letter.

(-Demi Torres)

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Gale offers a variety of resources for education, lifelong learning, and academic research. Whether you are looking for peer-reviewed articles; full-text magazines, newspapers, and eBooks; primary source documents; and videos or podcasts, Gale puts the right vetted content and tools at your fingertips! Don't know how to login?

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Becknell, Thomas. "Stopping by the
woods." American Forests, Nov.
Dec. 1991, p. 28+. Science In
Context,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do
p=GPS&sw=w&u=las86157&v=2.
&id=GALE%7CA11500553&it=r&a
id=279c9f47e1fadc96ceebcbbda
bf7174. Accessed 6 Nov. 2017.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet    Letter. Tom Doherty Associates,
1988.

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"Such was the sympathy of Nature - that wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjected by human law, nor illumines by higher truth - with the bliss of these two spirits!" (Hawthorne, page 199, chapter 18).

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"She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest..." (Hawthrone, page 196, chapter 18).