The Scarlet Letter

The Road of a Religion
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne continuously uses the
image of a road or path as a metaphor for the limited individual freedom within the Puritan
religion. The road, an entity that demands adherence to a dictated direction, is similar to
the structure of Puritanism, which defines a set of strict moral laws that must be followed.
On pages 159-160, the passage that begins with "The road" and ends with "...find them
bright," is an ideal example of Hawthorne's use of the road as a metaphor. …