Question 21: How This Story Relates to Another

The immigrants that come to America in The Free Man, by Conrad Richter, and Hester
Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, have similar ways in which they deal
with pain and loss. Having nobody to turn to but themselves and God, they seek no comfort from
the people around them. They are alone once being taken from their friends and families and
must look inward for strength.
The way that the foreigners that travel to America deal with the pain of being severely
mistreated by those superior in rank to them and the way that Hester Prynne deals with her pain
is similar. The immigrants suffer quietly and look to themselves for comfort and Hester changes
in the book to the point where she protects herself and deals with her pain without the help of
anybody else. Like Hester, the immigrants have nobody to turn to that would be willing to
comfort them. They are alone in the world after being ripped from their families and placed into
a position of indentured servitude, and Hester is isolated from her old friends and family after
she sins and has nobody to turn to, so she must keep her pain buried inside until it is the right
time to let it out. Henner, the main boy in the story of The Free Man, is whipped by order of his
master. Not a word came from Henners lips when they whipped him, not even to the post his
hands were tied around, (page 50, paragraph 1, line 1). Henner, like all the other immigrants, is
extremely lonely and has nobody to help him when he needs it most, so he has to learn how to
deal with his pain in his own way - by burying it until the time comes to let it out. For Henner
and the other immigrants, the proper time to seek the help of others in dealing with their pain is
when the rebellion starts. This is the time where they may fight for their freedom alongside many
others who believe as they do. Hesters meeting with Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are both
times where she has the opportunity to let herself open up to another person. She sought comfort
in Chillingworth in her hopes that he would stop torturing Dimmesdale, and she sought comfort
in Dimmesdale through his forgiveness.
The similarities in how the immigrants and Hester bear their sufferings are in their
strength of will and the necessity to bear the pain alone. There is nobody else who would help
them to bear their pains for a period of time. They each have to carry on and do what they need
to do in order to move on with their lives despite the pain of physical injury, loss, or sin, and they
each show strength because of it.