The article “How the brain stops us learning from our mistakes – and what to do about it” by Pragya Argawal explains how our brains can stop us from learning from our mistakes, explaining different cognitive functions and brain behaviors.

Humans subconsciously observe things that repeat, even if they do not have patterns. To make sense of these things, humans usually simplify and connect what we already know in order to preserve memory. These are called cognitive shortcuts. Over time, humans repeat these patterns, or mistakes, simply because our brains would rather take comfort “in what we already believe in” than to introduce new concepts and ideas, and ultimately, to protect our egos from getting hurt.

In the same way humans tend to repeat patterns and mistakes, Hester Prynne repeatedly refuses to name the father of her child in the Scarlet Letter, refusing to bow down to authority and protecting her dignity.

Another factor of why escaping past mistakes is impossible is because of society.

When society reminds people of their success in the past, they tend to repeat those very behaviors that led them there. However, when people are actively reminded of their failures in the past, they are not as prone to fix that behavior that led them to that failure. We feel down when we think about our failures, and in return, we are prone to engage in behavior that makes us feel better and familiar, rather than trying to learn from it. This is called the familiarity bias.

Society constantly reminds humans of their failures and shame the same way Puritan society constantly shamed Hester Prynne for her sin in The Scarlet Letter.

In conclusion, connecting to the novel, the way Puritan society is and how it discriminated and mistreated Hester Prynne really connects to society today. With how fast word spreads and resurfaces throughout social media, no matter what mistakes people can make, whether big or small, recent or a long time ago, it is impossible to not be reminded of your past failures due to how cancel culture is so normalized today in society. No matter how hard the oppressed try to redeem or better themselves, society will always be unforgiving and will keep putting them down, resulting in them wallowing in their shame rather than do something about it. No matter how far we’ve grown from our past mistakes, we can never truly escape and rid it from our identity. That’s just how it is.