The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, a classic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of a young woman and her living, breathing, sin. The novel gives a slight idea of what life was like in the early days of the United States. However, I still wonder, what was life like for the children in the colony? They had games and interacted with their friends, but what happens as they get older? I looked into this, and discovered a child's life was dictated by their parents. Many spent the day working to learn the skills needed to survive, with children as young as five running errands for the household. I also noticed how today's society has some similarities to the 17th century, for example, the idea of shame. The novel depicts the public shaming of a young adulteress in the early 1600s. Today, it seems people are ready to humiliate almost anyone who makes a mistake. It's especially easy to spread hate through social media, where you can hide behind a screen without feeling any guilt. In the small communities around the time the novel is set, a public shaming lingered until death. In this era, it matters for a week and then everyone moves onto the newest gossip. So what's worse, 17th century style shame or internet shame?