The Scarlet Letter Chapter 21 Summary

The New England Holiday

• The new Governor is going to take office, and it's party time for everyone.
• Even Hester comes into town. Like always, she doesn't give much away—but there just might be a teeny little expression of freedom on her face.
• Most people wouldn't notice a gorilla wandering onto a basketball court, so they sure don't notice Hester's expression.
• But Pearl does.
• Knowing something's up, she's acting wild—but she calms down enough to say that she's a strange, sad man if he'll greet them only at night or in the forest.
• Hester shushes her and tells her to notice how happy everybody is around them, celebrating Election Sunday (i.e., a day of both religious and civil thanksgiving).
• This is essentially the one day of the year that the Puritans seem like all other communities.
• The commander of the Bristol ship comes to talk to Hester. BTW, he says, there's going to be another passenger from your town.
• Three guesses?
• Okay, fine, we'll tell you.
• It's Chillingworth, obviously.