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Woods Symbolism In Scarlet Letter

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In the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne uses many symbols throughout the book that help give a contrast to the outside world. One of the symbols that he uses is the woods that represent a place of evil but also privacy.
When Hester enters into the woods with Pearl, Pearl mentions a story about a Black Man who “ haunts the forest and carries a book with him... this ugly Black Man offers this book and an iron pen to everybody that meets him here among the trees; and they are to write their names with their own blood” (p. 161). When hearing this quote, it sounds as if the devil is living in the woods and that is the man that Pearl is talking about. Whenever people think about the devil their minds immediately go to thinking

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