Jake Brennan
Scarlet Letter Questions 1. Sin- Society doesn’t frown upon sin as much as it had in the past
Adultery- Adultery happens pretty frequently in society now however there isn’t a punishment other than what other than divorce
Guilt- Usually forced on a person by the person that the action hurt
Punishment- usually enforced by police so if a law isn’t broken no punishment is enforced
Evil- Pointed out by people and demonized by those people
Justice- through the law system 2. Degrees of sin do exist in my mind varying from small sins like swearing to mortal sins like murder 3. Yes I believe the death penalty should be enforced in certain situations like unrightfully murdering someone such as the theater shooting in Colorado 4. I believe it depends on how they were betrayed if it is a serious situation and how far that person is willing to go to punish them 5. There should be absolutes like the death penalty in certain situations to prevent people from committing such heinous crimes, but there should be flexibility such as self defense and other situations where an action is required to prevent further harm, which means fairness and equity can’t be guaranteed but punishment being handed out in the closest to fair way as possible.

Jake Brennan
Alyssa Creighton
Research Challenge One

What was the world like when The Scarlet Letter was published in the 1850’s? In the 1850’s states like California were still being admitted into the Union, and there were still slaves in the Southern States. During the 1850’s author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s mother had died and he moved back to Lenox Massachusetts, where he met Melville. Most of the literature being written in the 1850’s where based on events that had taken place prior. Society felt strongly about sin but not as strong as they had earlier in time as slavery was still going on and it was thought that