Nathaniel Hawthorne and Toni Morrison: Multiple interpretations in 'The Scarlett Letter' and 'Beloved'.

摘要

During my comparison of Toni Morrison's Beloved to Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, I realized it was necessary to learn the definitions of the terms symbolism, conflict, identity, alienation and isolation as they relate to multiple interpretations in literature. These terms and literary devices are essential to the reader understanding the author's method. While reading The Scarlet Letter I was intrigued by Hawthorne's use of the letter A. The letter itself becomes a character and seems to change meaning throughout the novel just like the main characters and events of the novel. Initially, the A represents Hester Prynne's adulterous affair with Arthur Dimmesdale. Throughout the novel, the A that Hester wears on her chest becomes ambiguous as it represents her life, her situation, society, everyone and everything.;Beloved is a complex novel that can be interpreted in various ways as well. Symbolism seems to be a common theme through many of Morrison's novels. While I was enrolled in The Toni Morrison Seminar during my last semester of classes, I read criticism by Mae G. Henderson comparing Beloved to The Scarlet Letter. Before reading Henderson's comparison I never made the connection between these two profound novels. Ever since reading Henderson's comparison, all I've been able to do now is make many comparisons of my own.;These two novels affect me in different ways. I enjoyed The Scarlet Letter the first time I read it because of my interest in multiple interpretations. I was fascinated by the constant changes in the meaning of the letter A. The second time I read the novel, the events became clearer and by the third time I saw aspects of the letter and the characters that I did not see on the first two readings. My experience with Morrison, specifically Beloved, was quite different. I always have to read the first chapter or first couple of chapters of a Morrison novel several times to be able to follow the rest of the text comprehensively. Once I am able to successfully follow the text, I enjoy Morrison's novels. My initial reading of Beloved was in the early nineteen-nineties and upon completion of the novel I was left confused and intimidated by Morrison's style of writing. During my second reading of the novel, my confusion was cleared up, my questions were answered and the ideas and concepts of the novel became clearer. I now understood the reason why Morrison used re-memory and by my third reading of the novel, her method made perfect sense because when we are telling a story, we have to go back in our memory and tell the events how we remember them.;Just like Hawthorne, Morrison uses literary devices and techniques such as symbolism, conflict, identity, alienation and isolation to help the reader understand the storyline as well as the characters. These methods create a multi-faceted way to read the text and interpret the meaning. There is a relationship between the author and reader. We see that although the meaning of the text is subject to individual reader interpretation, the author has to give the reader an incentive to spark those different interpretations.