The Scarlet Letter ch 1-4

The first chapter of The Scarlet Letter basically served as background information of the jail. At first, the section seemed like a typical description of the town's gloomy and depressing prison. Hawthorne even states that "like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era" meaning the building didn't have a joyful or happy vibe, like everything else that had to do with crime and evil. The novel then goes on to describe a wild rose bush growing next to the front door. I thought this was really random, as it was a major transition from the depressing mood of the story to a beautiful piece of nature thriving in an unlikely place. The novel also makes a reference to Anne Hutchinson, who was a real person. Being confused as to how she related to the story, I researched information on her and found out that she was a Puritan who believed that salvation was based on a person's faith and not whether they followed rules and laws. I kept this in mind as I read on further. The second chapter introduced the main character, Hester Prynne. The fact that it was mostly the women in the town who were gossiping about wasn't a surprise at all. Time's clearly have not changed that much. I felt sorry for Hester during this chapter and even more sorry for her baby. Basically the whole community was standing around judging her as she walked towards the pillory. She seemed strong and held herself together until she began to think of her family. That's when I noticed her start to crumble. A man who's is not named is also brought up in her thoughts, which was strange. Chapter three gives readers an explanation as to why Hester has a scarlet "A" embroidered on her chest. The members of the clergy also spend a great deal trying to get her to confess who the father is. What I noticed was that she squeezed the baby so hard that it cried when she saw an Indian man. This was something she did in the previous chapter as well. Also the fact that she was so focused on the stranger led me to jump to the conclusion that he was the father of the baby, which sounds very absurd to say given the fact that this is only the third chapter, but you never know. What I didn't understand was that the people were hallucinating? On page 66-67 ". . . [the clergyman's] periods were rolling over people's heads, that it assumed new terrors in their imagination, and seemed to derive its scarlet hue from the flames of the infernal pit." Does this mean that the "A" was glowing? Chapter four gives insight on the relationship between the stranger and Hester. It was a major plot twist because the man who I believed was the baby father actually turned out to be her long lost husband. What's even weirder is that he's not nearly as mad as he should be, considering he comes home to find out his wife cheated on him and now has someone else's child.