Similarities Between Scarlet Letter And To Kill A Mockingbird

The two novels The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee may tell vastly different stories but, both touch upon a similar subject. By using the two affectionate characters of Boo Radley and Hester Prynne the authors explain their similar view on punishment, but with a different camera lens for each story.

The symmetry between the two novels builds as the reader learns more about Boo Radley from To Kill A Mockingbird. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley was a mysterious character who hid inside his house and scared dozens children with the thought of him. The cryptic character, however, was not a man who “dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch” (Lee 13) aforementioned by Jem, but instead

For example, after Miss Maudie’s house burnt down Jem told Scout, “You were so busy looking at the fire you didn’t know it when [Boo Radley] put the blanket around you” (Lee 72) proving his kindness. Also at the end Boo Radley saved Scout from being killed by a drunken Robert Ewell by taking a knife and stabbing him. When she learned of what happened and why Boo would not be punished for murder Scout exclaims, “Well, it’d be sort of like shootin’ a mockingbird” (Lee 276) expressing the idea that though Boo Radley committed a crime, but he did it to save another and it would be wrong to punish him. Lee believed that those who model rectitude, like Boo Radley, should not be punished. This writing style showed how Harper Lee wrote her story with a wide camera lens, for she captured the main idea of a misunderstood character who was not punished for a crime he had committed.

Hester, however, was not some adulteress and sinner, in fact, she had more integrity than the self-proclaimed righteous townspeople. After her punishment in the book the townspeople end up saying, “It is our Hester,- the town’s own Hester,- who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted” (Hawthorne 111) and describe her as the loving angel of the town even though they still shame her for the crime she committed about a decade ago. Going hand and hand with Boo Radley, Hester was misunderstood by the people until they actually saw her for the kind woman she was and not for the letter upon her chest. Hawthorne, unlike Lee, wrote with a portrait lens, for he captured a picture of a detailed and realistic character with Hester, who was punished for the crime she committed. Hawthorne described the injustice in the same view as Lee as “the young woman - the mother of this child - stood fully revealed before the crowd” (Hawthorne 36) publicly shamed in a world that failed to witness the wrong that they have done. The two different lenses of the authors connect together as they create a bigger picture than themselves on the topic of punishment. Though the authors tell the same view on punishment they did it by coming at it at different