The Scarlet Letter and The Little Prince, a Comaparison

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry are two novels that are quite similar, due to their authors' use of style, character actions, and setting. Their techniques contribute to the conflict and the overall effect through an exploration of the theme of guilt and blame. Although the stories seem different, there are still some similarities in both while keeping the themes of guilt and/or blame present in either novel.

In The Scarlet Letter and The Little Prince, both of the authors Saint-Exupéry and Hawthorne have a similar style that uses symbolism throughout the novels to make guilt and blame contribute to the overall effect in the two works. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne shows the theme of guilt by using a meteor as a symbol. The meteor traces a red “A” in the sky, supposedly implying to Dimmesdale, the adulterer and antagonist of this novel. He is the Reverend of the town yet he harbors guilt inside himself. His guilt of leaving Hester Prynne, our main character and adulterer on her own to be framed eats him up. He physically and psychologically abuses himself and even brands an A on his chest, but all this kept in secrecy. A meteor traces an A in the sky, and is a symbol of his guilt “that another’s guilt might have seen another symbol in it,” (Hawthorne pg. 152). Although his guilt makes it seem like meteor was pointing him out, the rest of the townsfolk seem to think the “A” stood for angel making it ironic and thus using his guilt and leading up even more so to the conflict. In The Little Prince, one of the protagonists, the narrator also has the weight of some guilt on his heart. The narrator has a drawing of from when he was a child, of a boa constricto...

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...ve in common is the common theme of narrow-mindedness. In The Little Prince, many of the characters the “grown ups” that the little prince meets along in his way of adventure are very narrow-minded and only care about counting and have no imagination whatsoever. In The Scarlet Letter, the theme of narrow-mindedness is also constant among the accusers and blamers of Hester Prynne. Even though, she has committed a sin, the Puritan authoritarian system is still very narrow minded in their way of order. Framing her and blaming her for everything is not going to get anything done, while jeering and isolating her out on a scaffold does not seem to do much either. Though the ideas and themes of both stories have many similar aspects, there are still some differences and the techniques of style, character actions, and setting contribute the conflict and overall effect.