Which work centers on sin and public shaming in a Puritan community?

• A. The Baby Party
• B. Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket
• C. The Scarlet Letter
• D. The Enemy

Answer: (C)

Sin and public shaming within a tightly governed community are the driving forces here. The Scarlet Letter places a woman in the center of a Puritan town where her adultery is a public matter, publicly marked by the scarlet letter she must wear. This symbol turns her into a visible reminder of sin for everyone, shaping how she lives and how others treat her. Hawthorne uses this setting to critique how a community’s strict moral code enforces judgment and how true guilt and humanity can lie beneath outward appearances. The story also shows how the same environment that shames can reveal strength and complicate ideas of justice, repentance, and dignity.

The other options don’t center on a Puritan community and public shaming in the same way; they explore different plots and themes—personal risk, private or individual conflicts, or different cultural contexts—so they don’t exemplify sin as a public, communal phenomenon in a Puritan setting.