"Roll It, Pat It, Mark It With an A"

 

Branding is quite an unusual statement. It started off as just a way for ranchers to be able to tell who's cattle was who's by taking a big, hot iron stamp and burning their name or symbol into the cow's ass. It was like there way of claiming or taking power over the cow. Over time, it's spread to a number of different things such as stickers on food to show where it came from, a saying meaning someone had left there 'mark' or some impression on you, even sexual fetishes(Hey! Who knows? Maybe the cows like it....), but they all still stand as a symbol of identification and ownership over something. "At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead(Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter)" because this idea of branding is a lot like the 'A' Hester had to wear in The Scarlet Letter. This 'A' was stitched onto her clothes, burning into her heart and head, to stand as a reminder of the adultery committed. She had become a product, a mascot, of the sin so that everyone who saw this brand would be warned against doing the same. Hawthorne referred to her as "a walking sermon," which instilled fear into the townspeople to disobey or even "let loose" in such a limited religious society. It was a lot like the views for the people during the Salem Witch Trials in a way.

While this may seem far off at first, I thought this scarlet letter Hester was forced to wear was similar to the numbers put on the Jews arms during the Holocaust. It was a mechanism used to take away their humanity and turn them into a statement. The Jews were tortured and killed for standing by their ethnicity, just as Hester was tortured for standing by her desire. But I'm really relating this more to the actual history the story is based on. We learned that these women were killed for going against society's norms, even the smallest thing, and the part of society that wanted an Aryan race, did this to the Jews for being Jews! It was society's need for control over the people, to own them, that led to this. The others was out of fear of being killed for not following what society tells them, even if they didn't commit a crime as such, going against society was enough. I have discovered that fear will often get in the way of what's right in people.

As would be expected from a class focusing on monsters and restless ghosts, there is a reoccurring theme of instilling fear in us. While the first thoughts on evil are what evil presence must we face in the outer world that can harm us, it seems that the worse of these two evils is the inner evil within ourselves. The main inner monsters of The Scarlet Letter are desire and our interest in human suffering. Desire does not have to always be about love and lust, although it often is. It can be the desire for power, wealth, fame, or matters of love, but it all can be pretty overwhelming. Hester's desire to be with the one she wanted at the time led to her punishment and though she knew it was wrong she did it anyway so that she and "the guilty one stands looking on at this sad spectacle, unknown of man, and forgetting that God sees him(Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter)." The desire they had became too powerful, leading them to forget there place and morals. It makes me wonder, what is my true deepest desire that I would lose reason for? What is yours? I think mine is matters of the heart as well, but I can never be sure.

I think that desire and suffering go hand in hand. We will go through some pretty horrible and intense events to reach what we truly want. Our need to have what we want, to stand out, make something of ourselves eventually digs so deep we cannot take it, and that's when our own monster of desire comes out and takes over. Hester suffered for love, and this idea reminds me of the song, "A Martyr For My Love For You" by The White Stripes. I mean, the title is the main thing that stands out to me about this topic because it's exactly what she's is, but there is a line in the song that goes, "and we could share a kiss, but I feel like I can't go through with this, and I bet we could build a home, but I know the right thing for me to do, is to leave you alone." The song is about a relationship that is happening even though at least one of them knows it shouldn't be. Even though Hester knew it was wrong, she did it, and that's where we create our own suffering. While the pain can be unbearable, the truth is that we like it, we don't want to get rid of our desires and urges because it makes us who we are. That one moment of pleasure out of all that pain is worth it to us for some odd reason. Even with the worst society could do to us for it, in the end, do we really end up punishing ourselves for our own wrong doings worse than others?

On a final thought, we seem to set ourselves up as old time Freakshows, we're either the attraction everyone is making fun of or in awe of, or we are the audience staring suffering in the face. We know it's horrible, but we watch others suffering disguised as wonder and entertainment because we are glad it's not us up there for the moment, but at the same time we can relate to them. It may not be our turn to be the bearded lady or whatever other freak is in the cage, but we are wary that it could happen, we fear it, but by mocking it, is does not seem as bad, until we get put in the cage and have to experience just how bad it is.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Tribeca Books, 1850. Print.

Dwork, Deborah, and Robert Jan Van Pelt. Holocaust: A History. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2002. Print.