You might know about The Scarlet Letter. People have utilized this story in soap operas and movies many times over. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece novel, The Scarlet Letter, teaches a multiplicity of lessons. One lesson I want to share with you is from the letter ‘A’ on Hester Prynne’s breast. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of this novel, commits adultery with Reverend Dimmesdale. So, she receives the punishment of wearing the letter A, which means adultery, on her breast. All people look down on Hester Prynne who is always wearing the dishonorable symbol A. Nevertheless, she stops living a life in fear; instead, she changes her life into a strong one by herself. As a means of living and volunteering, she uses needlework. Because of her outstanding ability on embroidery, people start to recognize her as an artist. More and more Hester Prynne behaves like a good citizen by doing volunteering work, people look her as an able woman. She is able to be nice in spite of her shameful past. Can you imagine what word she is referred to in the end? She is called an angel. That is because of her saint-like behavior throughout her whole life. A woman who had been ostracized for her adultery became an angel in the end. Consequently, the meaning of the letter ‘A’ was transformed from adultery into an angel.
   Maybe, all of us have lots of shameful pasts or bad memories during our lives. All of you may have a letter which you want to hang on your breast proudly like angel ‘A’. What letter do you have within your mind? Although you can hold something, you can change its meaning better while living your life. Try to attain the most worthy symbol as possible. Let’s make our lives better through strong willpower.
 

By Kwon Da-sol
Editor-in-Chief  dasol422@cnu.ac.kr