Scarlet Letter
?Hawthorne?s introduction to the Scarlet Letter explains his experience(s) in his native
town of Salem. He specifies what his goal for the reader is going to be. Spending a lot of his time
at the Custom-House (a governmental building in Salem) he describes the atmosphere and
diversities of the people who walk up those granite steps. His reason for creating the Custom-
House short novel was to introduce a group of short works as well as the long story which was
not yet completed, however, his publisher James Fields encouraged Hawthorne to let ?The Scarlet
Letter? stand alone.
In his native town of Salem, he describes the Custom-House as a sort of old, unattractive
building. He elaborates the physical sense of the buildings exterior with the American flag that
hangs vertically and the banner
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