Wearing the Letter W

Today I pinned a red letter W to the front of my sweatshirt. The letter W represents one of my character flaws, which is that I worry too much. There were very few people who actually guessed what it stood for. Most who asked me about it (about 30 people) had never read The Scarlett Letter, and some had never even heard of the novel. I actually found it a little exhausting to have to explain it over and over again, but I guess thirty people learned something new today.

I noticed something really weird while I was wearing the scarlett letter. I noticed that after I got tired of people staring at it and asking me questions, that I had unknowingly placed my hand over the letter - a similarity to Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne! It sounds like I'm making this up, but I seriously placed my hand over my chest to prevent people from seeing it.

I think I have a better grip on why the scarlett letter was considered such a big punishment. "Worry" is not as much of a big deal as "adultery" is, and if something as embarassing as an A was pasted on my chest, it would be humiliating to go out in public. Even though I only got a glimpse of the punishment (and admittingly, it wasn't much of a punishment for me as much as it was an annoyance towards people coming up to me and asking me constantly what it meant) it gave me a whole new respect for Hester Prynne in The Scarlett Letter. If it had been me branded with the "shameful letter", I probably would have at least moved away from town, or not ventured out into society as often as she seemed to because of shame.