Teenagers

– Learning From Exemplary Characters Essay, Research Paper

Teenagers: Learning from exemplary charactersTeenage parents are one of the highest problems in today’s world. Almost a child themselves, they had no idea of the responsibilities that it takes to raise a child. Most of the time, these parents are shun by society. Some are strong and determined to go on by themselves and try their best to raise their babies. A majority, however, does not think that way. Nathaniel Hawthorne understood the hardships that parents had to face in raising their children alone. His father died when Hawthorne was four years old, leaving his mother to raise her child herself. At the time of writing The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne had just lost his mother. This incident motivated him to create Hester Prynne, a woman that fits into his memories of mother hood. Because of this creation, he had turned this classical romance novel into a book that is relevant to teenage parents. Reading the novel, young parents can relate to Hester’s rejection by society. By committing adultery, Hester was thought to have sin against God’s words by the Puritan society. She was cast away as an outsider of the community. In addition, she was forced to wear the scarlet letter “A”, a “…badge of shame,” [sl08.html#g12] for the rest of her life. Teenage parents are able to imagine Hester’s situation and feelings since they are also shun by those around them. In today’s world, people form negative opinion toward those who become pregnant at a young age; therefore, they have to deal with other people’s scorns, just as Hester did. Like Hester, teenage parents had experienced and understood the difficulty in raising children. From the beginning, Hester struggles to support and discipline her daughter, Pearl. She worked diligently at her sewings “…to supply food for her thriving infant and herself.” [sl05.html#g05] Also, like most kids, Pearl is wild and extremely difficult to control. For this reason, Hester was concerned that the authorities would think that Pearl could not be trusted “…to the guidance of one who hath stumble and fallen amid the pitfalls of this world” [sl08.html#g10] and take her away. Young mothers and/or fathers are in a similar situation. They have to work hard so that they would not be force to give up their children for failure of support.

The novel shows single young parents that it is possible for their children to grow up with a good life. People usually have a misconception that children who only have the influence of one parent will not end up with a successful life. The situation with Pearl and Hester contradicts this theory. After all the years of hard work in raising Pearl, it finally pays off in the end. Pearl “…became the richest heiress of her day in the New World.” [sl24.html#g07] Through this, today’s young mothers and fathers were given confidence in their efforts to pursue a good life for their children. All of these prove that The Scarlet Letter is relevant to teenage parents of the twentieth century. Those people who decided to wait until they are older and married to have children will have an easier life. As for the youngsters who are now parents, they “…could no longer borrow from the future to help…(them)…through the present grief. Tomorrow would bring its own trial with it; so would the next day, and so would the next…” [sl05.html#g01]ID Number: 1981950