The first two things any community makes, according to the narrator of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, are a cemetery and a prison. This is an indication, of course, of two things that never change in human nature. read more
While Hawthorne does not, in his story, offer an obvious answer to the meaning of the rosebush, we can surmise several things. It is possible that the rosebush symbolizes Hester who, in spite of everything, has not given in to the rigid judgmental system of the Puritan theocracy. read more