The Custom House

1) The Custom House, it would seem, was not simply meant to bore the audience to tears (although, in my humble opinion at least, it certainly did succeed at that), but to serve as a introduction to the larger story. The narrator goes through great pains to describe everything to the reader, be it the candle flickering on the first floor or the slight peculiarities of his coworkers, and he does so for a reason. His descriptions not only prepare the reader for the probable abundant details in future chapters, but gives his audience a sort of feel for the setting, if not the time. For instance, the sentence ‘In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, in the days of old King Derby, was a bustling wharf’ (Custom House, pg 4) allows the reader to imagine the town of Salem at it’s peak, also offering a slight glimpse into what the life of the novel’s protagonist, Hester -Prynne. Alluding to Ms. Prynne’s Salem helps to familiarize the reader with certain things and places, so as not to confuse them too much in the later chapters.

The following sentence, -but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses, and exhibits few or no symptoms of commercial life; except, perhaps, a bark or brig, half-way down its melancholy length, discharging hides; or, nearer at hand, a Nova Scotia schooner, pitching out her cargo of firewood, Custom House, pg. 4) gives the reader the sense of time that must have past between these two periods. It first establishes the fact that the novel is written from by an outsider, one who has little knowledge of the events in Hester Prynne’s life other than what is written in that diary. This fact is essential to understanding not only the Custom House, but later things in the story as well.

The Custom house also succeeds in acquainting the audience with people and customs that may appear frequently thought out the course of the novel. The author explains that the story takes place in puritanical times right off the bat, which would explain the radical differences in the customs and activities between his time and theirs. He describes people of the time as ‘grave’ and ‘steeple-crowned’, which might help the readers understand the harsh treatment of Ms. Prynne later on in the novel. Hawthorn also describes the ideals and opinions commonly held at the time. Doubtless, however, either of these stern and black-browed Puritans would have thought it quite a sufficient retribution for his sins that, after so long a lapse of years, the old trunk of the family tree, with so much venerable moss upon it, should have borne, as its topmost bough, an idler like myself. (Custom House). This, coupled with the information on the setting and detailed explanation, make The Custom House sufficient introduction and guide it was meant to be.

2) The narrator admits to altering the facts of the original diary. “I have invariably confined myself within the limits of the old Surveyor’s half a dozen sheets of foolscap.
On the contrary, I have allowed myself, as to such points, nearly or although as much license as if the facts had been entirely of my own invention.” (pg. 32) Here, he basically states that while most of the facts are indeed true, or at least as true as the ‘half a dozen sheets of foolscap’, he has taken the liberty of adding a few things in, jazzing the piece up if you will. He makes the book more his own work, even if the main facts and ideas are based on what he’s read in the diary.

On one of the very first pages of the introduction, Hawthorn expresses his wishes to become a well established author. This, in fact—a desire to put myself in my true position as editor, or very little more, of the most prolix among the tales that make up my volume—this, and no other, is my true reason for assuming a personal relation with the public. (Custom House, pg. 2) In finding the journal and the scarlet letter, he essentially becomes the editor that he’s always wanted to be, in some respects, as well as the 'author'. He 'edits' out what he feels will either hamper or impair the progression of his story, not unlike that of a modern day editor. He may have altered descriptions of people and things a bit to fit this purpose as well, but one can infer that somewhere along the lines, his own opinions and biases were intertwined with the diary's original contents. This is the change that Hawthorne admitted to making, as well as the true reason why this novel is even published in the first place.

3)The changing of details can have two impacts on the larger story. The first one of these impacts drastically change the overall tone and flow of the book. Instead of reading like a diary, The Scarlet Letter is jammed packed with descriptions of people and places and sounds, some of which are surely all of Hawthorn’s doing. These changes improves the flow of the story, allowing the reader to be fully immersed in Hester’s Salem instead of just being offered a glimpse of it, as most diaries often do. Although it does take away from the empathy level that often comes with first person narratives, it adds so much more in terms of details and descriptions.

The second impact effecting being, of course, the narrator’s credibility as a whole. If he has taken it upon himself to alter certain parts of the story that he may find distasteful or irrelevant, who’s to say if anything printed in the novel has any accuracy at all? Why should be we believe him, a simple Surveyor who was born at least a century after the events he’s writing about? The thing is, since Hester Prynne or any other character of this story weren’t coming back any time soon, there was no way to verify that Hawthorn’s ‘inventions’ didn’t make up the bulk of the book. It is possible that Hawthorn never did find a diary or a strange red letter, and he was simply making this all up so as not to be labeled simply as a fiction writer. Although the author’s credibility doesn’t effect the main story directly, it does have an impact on how the audience will view the novel and its so called ‘facts.’