Novel: The Scarlet Letter
By: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Isabella Chang

Essential question: How does society’s expectations damage the human mind?

The article entitled, “Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity” published by the National Library of Medicine, expresses how mental health is affected by both cultural and societal norms in the world. The article describes how these norms may be different for each person, depending on their background, but it does not change the fact that it alters their way of thinking and their mentality.

The pressure that comes from society and cultures cause many different cases of mental illness. These factors can lead to depression, traumatic stress disorder, and many other disorders. Humans are exposed to various “stressful social environments” and receive negative treatment all over the world. The authors in this article state that these “factors often linked to race or ethnicity, such as socioeconomic status or country of origin can increase the likelihood of exposure to these types of stressors”. Depending on the country and culture, people carry different expectations and criticisms received from their society. This pressure can pile up over time and eventually disrupt the human mind.

Similarly, in the Scarlet Letter, the character Hester faces the norms and laws of Puritan society. The strictness of their values causes Hester to rebel, which leads to her downfall and damages her mental health.

Family also plays a big part in a person’s mental health. Depending on the environment people are raised in and which kinds of expectations they are given, it can negatively impact their mental health. The authors mention multiple situations in families that may lead to this negative influence, “conditions such as child abuse, neglect and sexual abuse place children at risk for mental disorders and suicide”. The pressure and expectations enforced by some families can destroy and damage a child’s mentality and harm their psychological well-being. Though this may not be the case for all families, there are many families in the world that face this problem.