After reading the Scarlet Letter, writing four reading responses and an apologia, I feel well acquainted with the Scarlet Letter and its characters. Familiarity doesn't equal love though, that is for sure. I struggled through each of the required assignments, because I really did not enjoy the plot of the novel, or the characters. Not only was it unnecessarily long and boring, but the 18th century language used made it hard to understand and disengaging.
There were, of course, positives to my classic novel selection. The Scarlet Letter is clearly a classic and I am glad to have experienced the literature and plot. The characters were fascinating to follow over the 8 or so years that the novel takes place, with a very strong female main character and powerful men that affect and change her life drastically throughout.
This entire CNS has also helped me to discover a few things about myself. I have realized that as a learner, I have sometimes to work to engage myself, and put in extra time and effort to get ideal results. I also realized that I must continue to extend my learning and that if I put the effort into focusing I enjoy it more.
Overall, the Scarlet Letter has shown me a few things about myself as a learner, and given me an insight into another time period. Although I did not have the best experience with this one, I now understand the value of reading classic novels, and I will continue to read them in the future.
