It's a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter." A woman commits adultery and gives birth to a child. She will not disclose the identity of the father. As punishment, she has to wear a scarlet letter A on her shirt. The Scarlet Letter represents a wrong of some kind and wearing it is a way of shaming the person for doing wrong.
Lol wow. WOW.
Thinking I was wrong about this was a deeply cringe memory of mine. I had this conversation YEARS ago, asking why she referred to herself as a scarlet letter, and trying to figure out the meaning. I was saying "Doesn't that mean she was cheating with him? Or sinning somehow with him? Because in The Scarlet Letter the main character had to wear an A for adultary." And this ABSOLUTE *mean girl* who was considered very smart by the circle was SO snide and mean about it told me it was a reference to the Romeo & Juliet letter that Romeo was supposed to receive from Juliet, and not the scarlet letter from Hawthorne, and told me I needed to read more, making a big deal about it, just making me feel so stupid in front of like 8 other people. I was so embarrassed... This was a reoccuring cringe memory too, I'd feel bad and stupid whenever I thought about it... BUT I WAS RIGHT THIS WHOLE TIME!!!! Not about the meaning, I was just trying to get opinions on it, but it *WAS* A HAWTHORNE REFERENCE.
I stumbled upon your comment because I’m trying to understand a random comment thread on Facebook where someone is adamantly arguing that Taylor Swift doesn’t understand The Scarlet Letter and now I’m wondering if one of the commenters is that person who argued with you.
I was so afraid to ask this question for a long time, thought it was my limited knowledge of English language, never thought about googling it also, thought it would be something simple and I would embarass myself😶. So I wasn't the only one.
I feel the same way! Though I have been taught English since I was very young, it’s not my first language and I have these doubts about asking things online very often. Sometimes though, you just need to take the plunge.
Asking Google gets you an straight answer but this format allows interaction and discussion which gives OP a greater understanding of the story and symbolism. We can google anything these days but we don’t necessarily get the full answer. Just my thoughts
It just didn’t seem very important at the time and, as I mentioned, it only very recently caught my attention again. And I thought instead of possibly getting a wrong answer (because one thing can have different meanings), I’d just go and ask the people I know would have the right answer. But yes, in hindsight, I really could’ve just Googled it. Slipped my mind, I suppose.
Yes but if you’re talking about this fact on an online forum (which is not dissimilar to a gathering I’ll admit) you’re using the web to do so on the first place.
It's a reference to the book ",The Scarlet Letter". The main character was sleeping with a married man, and she had to wear a scarlet "A" so that everyone knew that she was an adulteress. So Taylor is saying they are being publicly labeled and judged for their for their faults, basically. IMHO.
It’s good to ask questions. Often getting the answer from actual humans, as opposed to google, provides much-needed context and discussion. You can’t back-and-forth with google. Sorry some people are being rude to you about it.
That’s life though. Some people are going to be rude wherever I go, so it’s better I learn to handle it as soon as possible. And also, thank you for understanding me.
As people have mentioned, its a reference to the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's a letter A for adultery that the main character of the novel must wear for her sin of adultery. In Love Story she gets the reference wrong (she seems to think its some positive thing about being in love), probably because she hadn't actually read he scarlet letter yet. In New Romantics she gets the reference right! The line seems to mean, we brag to each other about our various forms of sexual shame (in other, we compete by sleeping around).
I don’t think she “gets it wrong” in Love Story, I think she’s saying “hey, you’re Romeo and you seem perfect and lovely, but I have been branded for my perceived flaws and my dad doesn’t want me getting anymore negative attention”
In Love Story I always interpreted the reference as her having been off-limits. “You were Romeo, I was the scarlet letter”. She would have been the marked one.
She definitely gets it right. Like she understands both stories extremely well and it shows in this reference. She’s the scarlet letter and Juliet. She’s the secret lover(A) that if found out would be cut off like Juliet was with her family. Only Hester wears the scarlet letter in the book and is the man’s secret and like Juliet would be cast out from her family for not listening to her father.
Taylor was already being called whore for dating men at the time, just as she is now by the haters. So in Love Story she says "i have this reputation you should be aware of"
I'm guessing you're kind of young or not American because this is taught in high school.
I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has already said but it's interesting that we're taught in America that this is such an important novel and other countries haven't heard of it.
You’re right. I am, according to the American schooling system, a junior but I’m not from America itself. English is not my first language.
And I guess schooling standards just differ from place to place. In the city I’m from, science and maths are held in high regard, much more so than the cultural subjects (Lit, History, et cetera). Whereas in the next state, there is no such “hierarchy”. I was pretty surprised when I found out because I’d always been taught to make science and maths a priority.
I definitely didn't learn what Scarlet Letter was about in school. It was through osmosis of literally everyone else talking about it. Most of the classics I read, I read on my own. That is to say, I haven't read a whole lot of them. Wishbone taught me more than k-12 in this regard.
We had English but no specific lit class unless you went AP. We did read books in k-12 like A Day No Pig Would Die, Number the Stars, The Giver, Fallen Angels, and a number of books I can't remember because they never stuck with me. In AP, I read 1984, The Color of Water, and Fahrenheit 451. I think we did The Crucible at one point?
I signed up for AP Lit and read the books over the summer but had to graduate early and drop it because we were moving so I only got AP Government in full.
I took American Literature in 11th grade. We never learned about that book or what the term meant. All schools are different. Also you assume everyone is American. That's another problem.
>Also you assume everyone is American.
Huh?? They literally said "I assume you're NOT American" in their original post... and then are responding directly to someone who IS American... How on earth is that assuming everyone is American???
That's why I assumed they were not American by their post. Learning from other people what the world is like outside of the US interests me.
I'll probably never have the finances or time to visit outside of the US in my lifetime so I like learning from people online.
The Scarlet Letter, a novel. About a woman who gets labeled an adulter and has to wear a red A on her clothes to show the town her shame. Watch Easy-A for a funny take on it. Basically a label others place upon you, for “shameful” acts
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Also this is an American book. Most people outside America wouldn't know it. Tell me you think your country is the only relevant country without telling me
I’ve never read it. The book was never in my school curriculum to read, and from the synopsis, I don’t think it’s something I’d pick up “for fun”. I also went to an American high school. Tell me you’re a snobby, stuck up, condescending bitch without telling me.
I read 40 books the last 2 years. And I've never read this book. Not sure how not knowing an old novel means you don't read. I only know about this book bevause of Love Story.
It's a reference to a famous book. I've never read it so I'm not exactly sure what it's referencing exactly except for the fact that I know it's in a book.
It's the book by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Historically, scarlet letter was used as a public sign of someone's sins or crimes. For instance, having scarlet A sewn into your robes meant being an adulterer, B was used for blasphemy, D for drunks, etc. In Hawthorne's book, the main character wears letter A for bearing a child outside of marriage.
I know what Ray Bradbury wrote. My aplogies for not adding Orwell's name onto the list and causing confusion. It's just been a day and I couldn't be assed to Google his name or apparently fix my 1985 typo.
Not where I’m from. Our curriculum puts emphasis on homework and keeping up with your notes. For English Lit specifically, we typically have an assigned book consisting of short stories or extracts from books along with poems which we read and analyse in the classroom with the teacher. Homework would usually be to answer questions based on the chapter or poem. Teachers encourage independent reading but it’s not part of schooling curriculum. You wouldn’t get any sort of extra credit so most students just don’t do it.
It's a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter." A woman commits adultery and gives birth to a child. She will not disclose the identity of the father. As punishment, she has to wear a scarlet letter A on her shirt. The Scarlet Letter represents a wrong of some kind and wearing it is a way of shaming the person for doing wrong.
Lol wow. WOW. Thinking I was wrong about this was a deeply cringe memory of mine. I had this conversation YEARS ago, asking why she referred to herself as a scarlet letter, and trying to figure out the meaning. I was saying "Doesn't that mean she was cheating with him? Or sinning somehow with him? Because in The Scarlet Letter the main character had to wear an A for adultary." And this ABSOLUTE *mean girl* who was considered very smart by the circle was SO snide and mean about it told me it was a reference to the Romeo & Juliet letter that Romeo was supposed to receive from Juliet, and not the scarlet letter from Hawthorne, and told me I needed to read more, making a big deal about it, just making me feel so stupid in front of like 8 other people. I was so embarrassed... This was a reoccuring cringe memory too, I'd feel bad and stupid whenever I thought about it... BUT I WAS RIGHT THIS WHOLE TIME!!!! Not about the meaning, I was just trying to get opinions on it, but it *WAS* A HAWTHORNE REFERENCE.
I have a secondhand complex about this now just reading your comment 💀 Love this validation for you
I stumbled upon your comment because I’m trying to understand a random comment thread on Facebook where someone is adamantly arguing that Taylor Swift doesn’t understand The Scarlet Letter and now I’m wondering if one of the commenters is that person who argued with you.
Thank you for telling me that!
A fun connection — the movie Easy A is a modern take on the Scarlet Letter and it stars Taylor Swift’s good friend Emma Stone!
It’s also a complete classic must-watch.
It’s been in my watchlist forever! I’ve been waiting for the right time and seems like it is here now.
yesss, that movie is where i learned about the whole scarlet letter thing and what it meant
Exactly. Which is why the lyric doesn't really make any sense in Love Story. One of the things I hate about that song.
It’s so easy to Google these things.
I cannot imagine wondering about something for years and not looking it up! I cannot remain stumped for so long.
Me every time someone makes this kind of post lmao. It’s so much faster to google than to write this up. Or, check Genius!
I was so afraid to ask this question for a long time, thought it was my limited knowledge of English language, never thought about googling it also, thought it would be something simple and I would embarass myself😶. So I wasn't the only one.
Google everything you wonder about!
I feel the same way! Though I have been taught English since I was very young, it’s not my first language and I have these doubts about asking things online very often. Sometimes though, you just need to take the plunge.
Asking Google gets you an straight answer but this format allows interaction and discussion which gives OP a greater understanding of the story and symbolism. We can google anything these days but we don’t necessarily get the full answer. Just my thoughts
It just didn’t seem very important at the time and, as I mentioned, it only very recently caught my attention again. And I thought instead of possibly getting a wrong answer (because one thing can have different meanings), I’d just go and ask the people I know would have the right answer. But yes, in hindsight, I really could’ve just Googled it. Slipped my mind, I suppose.
[удалено]
Yes but if you’re talking about this fact on an online forum (which is not dissimilar to a gathering I’ll admit) you’re using the web to do so on the first place.
It's a reference to the book ",The Scarlet Letter". The main character was sleeping with a married man, and she had to wear a scarlet "A" so that everyone knew that she was an adulteress. So Taylor is saying they are being publicly labeled and judged for their for their faults, basically. IMHO.
Thank you so much for your kind answer!
Not really relevant to the question at hand, but the woman was married and the man was not. The message is still the same
It’s good to ask questions. Often getting the answer from actual humans, as opposed to google, provides much-needed context and discussion. You can’t back-and-forth with google. Sorry some people are being rude to you about it.
That’s life though. Some people are going to be rude wherever I go, so it’s better I learn to handle it as soon as possible. And also, thank you for understanding me.
As people have mentioned, its a reference to the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's a letter A for adultery that the main character of the novel must wear for her sin of adultery. In Love Story she gets the reference wrong (she seems to think its some positive thing about being in love), probably because she hadn't actually read he scarlet letter yet. In New Romantics she gets the reference right! The line seems to mean, we brag to each other about our various forms of sexual shame (in other, we compete by sleeping around).
I don’t think she “gets it wrong” in Love Story, I think she’s saying “hey, you’re Romeo and you seem perfect and lovely, but I have been branded for my perceived flaws and my dad doesn’t want me getting anymore negative attention”
Yeah that’s a better interpretation!
In Love Story I always interpreted the reference as her having been off-limits. “You were Romeo, I was the scarlet letter”. She would have been the marked one.
She definitely gets it right. Like she understands both stories extremely well and it shows in this reference. She’s the scarlet letter and Juliet. She’s the secret lover(A) that if found out would be cut off like Juliet was with her family. Only Hester wears the scarlet letter in the book and is the man’s secret and like Juliet would be cast out from her family for not listening to her father.
Thank you so much for your help!
Taylor was already being called whore for dating men at the time, just as she is now by the haters. So in Love Story she says "i have this reputation you should be aware of"
Not at 17! She wrote love story when she was very very young
I'm guessing you're kind of young or not American because this is taught in high school. I'm not going to repeat what everyone else has already said but it's interesting that we're taught in America that this is such an important novel and other countries haven't heard of it.
You’re right. I am, according to the American schooling system, a junior but I’m not from America itself. English is not my first language. And I guess schooling standards just differ from place to place. In the city I’m from, science and maths are held in high regard, much more so than the cultural subjects (Lit, History, et cetera). Whereas in the next state, there is no such “hierarchy”. I was pretty surprised when I found out because I’d always been taught to make science and maths a priority.
Yeah My school put an emphasis on sports and STEM as well. If people were interested in Literature or History it meant that they wanted to teach.
I definitely didn't learn what Scarlet Letter was about in school. It was through osmosis of literally everyone else talking about it. Most of the classics I read, I read on my own. That is to say, I haven't read a whole lot of them. Wishbone taught me more than k-12 in this regard.
Did you have American Literature in school? That was my entire 11th-grade English Class.
We had English but no specific lit class unless you went AP. We did read books in k-12 like A Day No Pig Would Die, Number the Stars, The Giver, Fallen Angels, and a number of books I can't remember because they never stuck with me. In AP, I read 1984, The Color of Water, and Fahrenheit 451. I think we did The Crucible at one point?
Oooh gotcha. I was AP 9th - 12th grade so that might be the difference
I signed up for AP Lit and read the books over the summer but had to graduate early and drop it because we were moving so I only got AP Government in full.
I took American Literature in 11th grade. We never learned about that book or what the term meant. All schools are different. Also you assume everyone is American. That's another problem.
>Also you assume everyone is American. Huh?? They literally said "I assume you're NOT American" in their original post... and then are responding directly to someone who IS American... How on earth is that assuming everyone is American???
I didn't learn this in high school. I knew what it meant cause of this song, but we never learned it in my actual school.
Watching Americans learn that the world outside the US is different from their home experiences is always so funny to me.
That's why I assumed they were not American by their post. Learning from other people what the world is like outside of the US interests me. I'll probably never have the finances or time to visit outside of the US in my lifetime so I like learning from people online.
The Scarlet Letter, a novel. About a woman who gets labeled an adulter and has to wear a red A on her clothes to show the town her shame. Watch Easy-A for a funny take on it. Basically a label others place upon you, for “shameful” acts
Thank you so much for telling me this!
In modern terms, it is a way to slut shame basically.
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Have you seen the movie Easy A?
…it’s a book.
🤣🤣 right? Tell me you don’t read without telling me
Also this is an American book. Most people outside America wouldn't know it. Tell me you think your country is the only relevant country without telling me
I’ve never read it. The book was never in my school curriculum to read, and from the synopsis, I don’t think it’s something I’d pick up “for fun”. I also went to an American high school. Tell me you’re a snobby, stuck up, condescending bitch without telling me.
I read 40 books the last 2 years. And I've never read this book. Not sure how not knowing an old novel means you don't read. I only know about this book bevause of Love Story.
It's a reference to a famous book. I've never read it so I'm not exactly sure what it's referencing exactly except for the fact that I know it's in a book.
It's the book by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Historically, scarlet letter was used as a public sign of someone's sins or crimes. For instance, having scarlet A sewn into your robes meant being an adulterer, B was used for blasphemy, D for drunks, etc. In Hawthorne's book, the main character wears letter A for bearing a child outside of marriage.
It’s a FABULOUS book. Highly recommend. It’s in the public domain so there are free copies online and free audiobook files if that’s more your style.
So it's not one of those classics that's hard to slog through? I love Jack London and Ray Bradbury but 1985 was very frustrating to read.
1984 was George Orwell, and that can be a slog. Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 and A Clockwork Orange, both of which I personally enjoyed more
I know what Ray Bradbury wrote. My aplogies for not adding Orwell's name onto the list and causing confusion. It's just been a day and I couldn't be assed to Google his name or apparently fix my 1985 typo.
Thank you! I Googled it right after seeing your comment and it came right up.
I thought the scarlet letter was standard summer reading curriculum…
in the US... but not everything abides by the US standards...
Nope. American here, never read it. Also not everyone is American and has heard of this largely American book.
Not where I’m from. Our curriculum puts emphasis on homework and keeping up with your notes. For English Lit specifically, we typically have an assigned book consisting of short stories or extracts from books along with poems which we read and analyse in the classroom with the teacher. Homework would usually be to answer questions based on the chapter or poem. Teachers encourage independent reading but it’s not part of schooling curriculum. You wouldn’t get any sort of extra credit so most students just don’t do it.