The Scarlet Letter Study Guide Ques.

1. By definition, an introduction is a preliminary part, as of a book, musical composition, or the like, leading up to the main part (dictionary.com). Within most novels, an introduction, or preface, is provided. An introduction is the foundation of the novel, and the rest of the novel builds upon it. It gives the reader history on the novel and prevents the reader from blindly walking into a story. Introductions give descriptions on the story that follows. They also allow the reader to gauge the difficulty level of the book and to get to know the author of the novel. Nathaniel Hawthorne's purpose is to give background information on the important events that will occur in the story.


2. Hawthorne admits to changing the story contained in the diary. He adds his own fictional elements to the story in order to make the novel more interesting. In his opinion, the fiction in the story will keep the reader's attention better than stated facts, which is what the novel would have been without his changes. He also believes that the changes he made would better his writing career, because the novel would attract more attention. Although he makes changes to the original document, he makes sure that he gives credit where credit is due. "The main facts of the story are authorized and authenticated by the document of Mr. Surveyor Pue" (Hawthorne, 32). He wants his readers to know that, even though he added a lot to the original story, that it was not only him who contributed to it, and that the credit for the original story should go to Mr. Surveyor Pue.


3. The change that is made will accomplish Hawthorne's goal of making the story more interesting to his readers. With the original documents simply being facts, there was a good chance that the book wouldn't have caught the attention of its present audience. Adding his own words to the novel helped to widen the range of readers, thus giving the book more publicity. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in a sense, brought the story of Ms. Hester Prynne to life.