Alienation and Self-Isolation in the Scarlet LetterIn a community, people understand and know each other. In most cases, individuals grow up together and share the same ideals and customs. When a new person appears, people tend to flock and try to form a personality. Many people expect him to quickly integrate into the community and follow its laws and customs without complaint. Unfortunately, not everyone can act like a perfect person, and mistakes or problems can arise, leading to the person's isolation and alienation from the rest of the community or vice versa. Using historical perspective in the 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores how people's isolation and alienation throughout history, the Puritan community creates many different punishments that offenders must accept for live in the community. According to Michael J. Colacurcio, in 1695, the Salem colony passed a law that required women who committed adultery to sew a capital "A" on their clothing to designate them as adulterers (331). Puritan colonies in the New World created physical isolation for people who committed both heinous and moral crimes against the colony. Their strict belief structures cause them to punish all crimes almost equally and lead to colonies being isolated by others who do not wish to associate with their actions. While the Puritan settlements represent a large part of American colonial history in New England, many people did not approve of their harsh behavior and teachings. An example of this comes from Hawthorne, who viewed Puritan communities as hypocritical and too harsh. Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter as a symbol for Hester, of her change and maturity, instead of her guilt and crimes: "many people have refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original meaning. They said it meant Able” (Hawthorne 10). The scarlet letter not only represents an adulterer, but someone who overcomes the situation and moves on. Hawthorne's rejection of the Puritan mentality through Hester shows how Puritans do not accept many different things, which leads to their own personal alienation. By isolating outsiders and new ideas, the community further alienates