[mock-possum]

I mean this is a monologue though, and it’s specifically self indulgent self deprecating content, this poor guy is whining about how he’s so smart and so old and ugly and how could he have ever thought that someone as young and got as Hester would be satisfied with him. It’s character voice, and it’s illustrative - “without a modicum of merit?” Really? This passage tells a whole story in itself, and it’s a familiar, human story, that bitter men have always told and will always tell anyone with will listen. “I wasn’t good enough.”

[rawgabbit]

My point is that Scarlet Letter is taught to students. Usually it is taught as an example of good writing. I would argue it is an example of what not to do. If you want to convince people. If you want to get your point across. It is absolutely the wrong thing to do. The reader is drowning is on the author's verbosity.

If it is an example of poetic literature. Ok sure.