Choices Essay, Research Paper

ChoicesIn Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the young and vulnerable Hester Prynne had a choice…a choice of right or wrong…a choice of either being faithful to her dreams and the commitments she had made to her husband or giving in to thoughtless temptations of lust and passion; similarly, today’s teenagers-turned-parents are making the same thoughtless choices and thus reaping the consequences. Society’s point of view, whether it be the 1600’s or the 1900’s, concerning unplanned pregnancies, still remains the same. Once accused in 1642 by the townsmen of Boston, Hester, along with her baby Pearl began to reap the consequences. First of all, spending three torturous days in the town jail and standing upon a scaffold while the towns people gathered round, mocked and ridiculed her is no picnic. Secondly, Hester was required to wear the shameful scarlet letter ‘A’ (Adultery) on the bosom of all her clothing and forced to live on the outskirts of town, away from society. Virtually left alone to raise little Pearl with no one to talk to. Life did not working out as Hester had originally scheduled, worked, and planned it out to be.

A teenage parent’s life, though more common in today’s society, coincides greatly with the one above. Quitting school, working a 70 hour-per-week job at the local Drive-n-Dine and paying bills are all consequences that teenage parents might deal with. Which sounds better: A life time of dreams fulfilled and respect for yourself or one night of passion?Our entire life revolves around the choices people make. Does Hester make the right choice by having adulterated sex with Boston’s most admirable and reputable Mr. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale while still married to Dr. Roger Chillingsworth? No. Have today’s teenagers-turned-parents made the right choice in their adolescent actions? No.It appears that Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, with Hester’s isolation from society for the sin she committed, does indeed relate to today’s teenage parents.