The custom house throws light on a theme in the scarlet letter which is easily overlooked amid the ethical concerns of the book every character in effect re enacts the custom house scene in which hawthorne himself contemplated the letter so that the entire romance becomes a kind of exposition on the nature of symbolic perception. Free barrons booknotes for the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne downloadable free booknotes online summarysynopsisstudy guide. Find many great new used options and get the best deals for barrons book notes ser the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne 1984 trade paperback at the best online prices at ebay free shipping for many products. The style of the scarlet letter is ornate and subtle characterized by long intricate sentences suggesting the path to the truth is twisting and complicatedhawthornes long sentences contain many clauses or ideas and often only communicate the main idea at the end for example when the narrator describes hester prynne standing on the scaffold he notes that had there been a papist . While warmly received here and abroad the scarlet letter sold only 8000 copies in hawthornes lifetime in 1849 when the family moved to lennox massachusetts hawthorne made the acquaintance of herman melville a young writer who became a good friend