Self-Identity In The Scarlet Letter

Self-identity is a journey that every person must walk through, and that journey can be affected by an inestimable amount of things, such as: material things, people’s opinions, social media, and even religion. People are molded into who they’re meant to be through every aspect of their lives. Self-identity is a theme that is evident throughout The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne’s identity is centered around the scarlet “A”, which she is forced to wear upon her bosom as retribution for her adulterous past. “It would be greatly for the public behoof… such malefactress as this Hester Prynne. What think ye gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five…” (Hawthorne, 59) This is one of the many examples of how

In the article Who or what is defining your self-identity? written by Jim Taylor, Ph.D., Taylor talks about the effects that people’s opinions, and social media can have on the identity of someone. “Because we are fundamentally social beings and an essential part of our development involves finding our place in the social and cultural context… plays a significant role in the evolution of out self-identities.” (Taylor, 1) Many people search for their identity through the opinions of others around them, and if those opinions are negative, them someone will be imbued with a negative image of who they are. “Nor does it provide feedback about how grounded our self-identities are in the reality of our lives. Instead, popular culture manufactures “portraits” of who it wants us to be.” (Taylor, 2) Social media also has a huge impact of the identities of people, because on social media, one is expected to be collected and have the “perfect” life that is depicted on other people’s accounts. On social media, people are told who they are supposed to be, which causes them to become a product of society and find validation in an impossible