Throughout the early colonization of America during the 1700s, the Puritan belief that some people are predestined to go to heaven influenced the lives of every settler in New England. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells the story of a women and her daughter facing the cruelty of the unforgiving Puritan theocracy that dominated Boston during this time. Through the use of vivid imagery, Hawthorne displays his view that people who adhere to the belief of predestination breed bitterness and harshness in their society.
Hawthorne's disdain for the product of predestination can be seen very early in the story. During the introduction, a Salem customs officer describes the decorative eagle above the door of the old customs house that dates all the back to Puritan times. “But she has no great tenderness even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later—oftener soon than late—is apt to fling off her nestlings with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.” In this quote Hawthorne creates an image of a cruel and terrifying monster that is willing to kill one of her own nestlings. This image of the menacing eagle demonstrates Hawthorne's belief that the creations of those who believe in predestination are filled…show more content… “a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes." The wooden prison door is the first example of Puritan creation that the reader experiences in The Scarlet Letter and Hawthorne utilizes it as an opportunity to show the reader early on how he feel about the Puritans. Hawthorne creates this image of a foreboding and menacing wall meant to keep criminals in captivity to express the negativity he feels towards the creations of people with Puritan
