There are those that seek to withhold literary adventures from reaching the exploratory minds of the general public, preferring instead to dictate what can and cannot be published. My preliminary research on the history of censorship has led me to make three observations: 1) Censorship often stems from a state of ignorance that can easily be remedied if the opposition would simply read the book before crying for its expulsion; 2) Censorship clashes with a liberal sense of freedom, always leaning in favor towards the bias or ideology of a group or person; 3) There is a large measure of succcess associated with the publication of a story that would later face banning, demonstrating to me that while censorship is a real obstacle to freedom of expression, many people enjoy reading these stories and would never wish them or their authors ill fate.
I begin my personal exploration of banned books with the purpose of learning about these stories and what made them targets of censorship. I turn to literature that has passed through the filters of numerous generations, utilizing this blog to reflect on the stories that have met public censorship and why. I should note to the reader that not only will I describe the plot of the book in question but I will also seek to establish a general overview of the context in which the book was published. I feel context is always revealing to the author's frame of mind when writing, the issues he or she faced and addressed through literature. I will end this post with some personal thoughts on what I learned from reading. I begin this exploration of literature and its checkered reception by reviewing Nathan Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
Setting the Stage
Nathan Hawthorne
Place yourself in the United States of 1850 when the American Flag has only thirty stars. States like Utah, Colorado, California were territories - vast swathes of native land filled with resources and opportunity. The United States declared its independence less than one hundred years prior. Since then the nation fought for its independence, ratified a constitution (1787), fought the War of 1812 and Frederick Douglass published Narrative only five years ago. The issue of slavery divides the nation, a prequel to the impending Civil War. Manifest Destiny has sent settlers West, with Native Americans leading the way in a Trail of Tears since the early 1800's.
Zachary "Old Rough and Ready" Taylor, is the 12th president, but dies in the summer of 1850, an unexpected passing with rumours of assassination by poisoning. His nickname comes from his success in military campaigns against the Native American resistance to western expansion. The remainder of 1850 passes under the presidential authority of Millard Fillmore, the last of the Whig party to hold the Presidency. His bid for reelection in 1853 would be blocked by members of his own party because of an internal party split over the issue of slavery. The Compromise of 1850, ratified in September, would quell the nation's discord over the issue of slavery only temporarily.
A train of thought more readily addressed in The Scarlet Letter is that of Transcendentalism. This both philosophical and religious thought places as a primary assumption the purity and goodness of humanity and nature. Institutions of society that are pure and good are only such because of the goodness and purity of its members. Thus, the work of the individual involves both the purity of one's self, as well as expansion of one's learning and growth for the benefit of the self and the community (See Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1836 Nature as an example). In contrast, Calvinism's predestination, or the purity of the Church (Institution) despite the sinfulness of its members (self). As a religious philosophy, transcendentalism emphasizes the personal relationship with God and the inherit ability of all individuals to grow in that relationship purely on individual effort. The individual was to maintain his/her standing with God, opening one up to mystical experiences with the divine.
In the infancy of the United States, as it expanded West and continued to wrestle with the issue of individual freedom and one's relation with the divine, Hawthorne produces The Scarlet Letter.
The Scarlet Letter
Published in March 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's best known work, The Scarlet Letter, received immediate success, going under three printings within the first year.
Set in the 1600s in a New England colony, a village confronts the sin of one of their own, forcing the accused Hester Prynne to wear the letter 'A' on her breast at all times as a reminder to her and the community of her sin - Adultery. Hester Prynne refuses to tell the authorities the identity of her lover and must therefore wear her shame alone. Her punishment is to live as a social outcast in the shame of her sin along with her young bastard daughter, Pearl. Soon after her initial public shaming, she is confronted by her actual husband, who takes the name of Mr. Chillingworth, who sets out to execute his own form of justice on the man who slept with his wife. He identifies the Reverend Dimmesdale as the secret lover with whom he boards giving Chillingworth opportunity to mentally torture the Reverend for his crime. The Scarlet Letter carries the reader through the struggles of these four characters - Hester Prynne, Pearl, Mr. Chillingworth and the Reverend Dimmesdale - exposing the human struggle to understand guilt, sin, and justice.
One particular aspect of The Scarlet Letter is Hawthorne's ability to describe the human sentiment while struggling with the consequences of life's events. For example, despite the 'A' which Hester Prynne must adorn and the constant public shunning, she is immensely giving and kind, even to the destitute who will refuse her gifts of charity or insult her while taking her kindness. Yet, the 'A' she wears and its associated guilt weighs heavily on her despite her truly noble character: "Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman." Through Hester Prynne, Hawthorne exposes the effects of an internal guilt that exists in those publicly shunned or treated differently simply on the basis of life events. She may carry herself with all reverence, but Hester Prynne's tragedy was that she had lost herself. "Thus, Hester Prynne, whose heart had lost its regular and healthy throb, wandered without a clue in the dark labyrinth of mind; now turned aside by an insurmountable precipice; now starting back from a deep chasm." Hawthorne takes the reader to the precipice with Hester, making real her sense of dispair and guilt.
Mr. Chillingworth provides an additional look into the development of the human mind under the passionate desire for vengeance. Mr. Chillingworth shares a special yet strained relationship with Hester Prynne, one I will not divulge for those who may still need to read. Mr. Chillingworth seeks to enact vengeance on the one who impregnated Hester. He identified the Reverend Dimmsedale, and through clever and malicious means, Mr. Chillingworth enacts a torture on the Reverend that spans years. His vengeance not only affects the Reverend, it affects Mr. Chillingworth. "Dost thou remember me?," asks Mr. Chillingworth to Hester Prynne. "Was I not, though you might deem me cold, nevertheless a man thoughtful for others, craving little for himself, kind, true, just, and of constant, if not warm affections? Was I not all this?" Like the weight of the 'A' on the mental health of Hester, Mr. Chillingworth has also payed a toll for the vengeance in his heart. "'And I thee,' answered Hester Prynne, 'for the hatred that has transformed a wise and just man to a fiend! Wilt thou yet purge it out of thee, and be once more human?'" Hester's own personal struggle to fill the void caused by her plight does not stop her rightful criticism of Mr. Chillingworth who has lost his humanity.
The torture invoked by Mr. Chillingworth takes effect on the pious yet secretive Reverend Dimmsedale. The Reverend is well respected in the community yet his sin - his greatest secret published on the breast of Hester Prynne and in the innocence of Pearl - becomes the tool by which Mr. Chillingworth enacts his vengeance. The Reverend Dimmsedale's piety is revered by the community, but his internal pain and secretive guilt is what fuels his self-loathing. The guilt overwhelms him and he even stands atop the public scaffold where sinners are publicly ridiculed craving for public relief of his secret guilt. He even has Hester Prynne and Pearl join him atop the scaffolding, the 'A' over Hester's heart, and his hand over his, Pearl their common link.
The three characters are linked by one common bond - Pearl. Each looks on her differently. She is the visible reminder of Reverend Dimmesdale's secret sin; a reminder of Hester's public sin and punishment; fuel for Mr. Chillingworth's vengeance. Pearl grows from toddler to child, always described as mischievous at the least, and donning the face of a witch at worst. Pearl is the result of a sinful act, shares her mother's banishment, and expresses her solitude through curious and evil behavior. She is the great mystery of the story, for she carries innocently, naively, yet with great manipulation, the burden of being the child of adultery.
One final character - the community. The people, the environment, the social norms of this 17th century American colony are the backbone to create the conflicts presented through the characters of The Scarlet Letter. The community's reaction to Hester Prynne's sin, the treatment of her and her child, the call for piety, especially amongst the clergy, and the deep seated demand for strict justice. Every aspect of the puritan life affects the characters, leading them to moments of tremendous personal stress, anxiety, and self-loathing. The character's all seek refuge from the internal pain, yet their society drives them to remain quiet, silent in their sins and thus alone in their pain.
Reaction to The Scarlet Letter
As mentioned above, The Scarlet Letter was a general success when first published in 1850. It received great praise amongst literary critics, however, religious journals and clergy were not so positive in their reviews. There was a sentiment among the religious that both Hester Prynne and Rev. Dimmesdale were not repentant enough for their shared sin. The subject matter of a clergy comitting adultery was a scandal in itself, the love between Rev. Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne described as a "nauseous amour."
The clamour for the book to be banned came in 1852, led by Rev. Authur Coxe. The principal complaint focused on Hawthorne's preference to Hester Prynne's plight as the social outcast and the negative portrayal of Mr. Chillingworth's right to execute justice on the culprit who hid his sin. Coxe's demand for the ban was not realized except in Russia by Czar Nicholas I. The ban in Russia was lifted four years later.
The next case of censorship does not emerge until 1961 when parents of students in Michigan claim the text to be "pornographic and obscene." They wanted the book to be removed from assignment. The demand was denied.
In 1966 a survey of school librarians revealed that four undisclosed locations reported attempted censorship. Complaints of the text came from either parents or students claiming the text to be "immoral" or the subject matter of adultery to be inappropriate. In the one case where the book was removed from the reading list, the principal said it too "frank" and "revealing". A similar survey was conducted in Arizona in 1967 reported one challenge by a parent asking the book removed from the reading list. The parent's request was denied.
Ten years later in 1977 The Scarlet Letter was challenged as required reading in a Michigan high school and subsequently removed from the reading list. A parent in Missouri condemned the book for using "4-letter words" and "other undesirable content". Her demand for its removal was not met, the librarian pointing out that no obscene language appears in the book.
In 1982 the request was made for the book's removal from the required reading list from an undisclosed high school because the book was about a "womanizing preacher" and "prostitution". Denied.
Author's Thoughts
I imagine the subject matter scandolous amongst conservative circles when first published in 1850. The scandal reemerged throughout the ages in the form of censorship of The Scarlet Letter because of its subject matter deemed inapprorpiate, often for reasons outside the scope of the book. Rev. Dimmesdale was not a "womanizing preacher". He was a humble servant to the community, his secret affair with Hester Prynne his only flaw in a career of community service revered by the community. Hester Prynne was not a prostitute but a woman who, according to the social norms, committed a sin. She did not regularly sell herself for sex. There are no "4-letter words" that you wouldn't use in front of your grandmother. The story begins after the affair has occurred, meaning the juicy details are not the focus of Hawthorne's tale, but instead the aftermath and how his characters deal with a hidden love masked with guilt.
Hawthorne asks his readers what wrongs our socially accepted boundaries play in the demise of our very humanity. Even exacting justice blinds us to the more self-fulfilling yet more difficult task of allowing love. The social constructs by which we live can indeed hinder our ability to accept, forgive, love and cherish a short life otherwise spent in ill fitting conformity. As a society we are challenged to ask ourselves what talents and goods are suppressed due to our inability to forgive, forget and accept. What Hester Prynnes walk amongst us with a visible reminder of shame, yet their charity is boundless? What Rev. Dimmesdales serve the faithful all the while strapped to the stress of a sinful secret? Why do we wait till death to finally achieve freedom?
Book Referenced
Karolides, Nicholas J., Margaret Bald & Dawn B. Sova. 120 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature. New York: Checkmark Books, 2005.
