Escape and Quest in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter And Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the theme of escape and quest in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. Both writers’ stories tell of an external quest, but my thesis attempts at following the narrative threads to shed light on the true quest the two writers are really interested in which is the psychological journey the two protagonists undertake. This dissertation follows the steps of the two protagonistsin their quest journey for self-realization. It draws on the journey archetype which emphasizes, through the two movements of the process of individuation and the three stages of the monomyth, the psychic maturation and self-transformationthe protagonists have achieved.The novelty this research tries to bring is to highlight both Hawthorne and Hemingway’s latent optimism in the two novels as they allow their protagonists, Hester and Jake, reach successful individuation.