Entry 1

 Entry 1

"But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him" (Hawthorne, Chapter 1).

I chose this first quote because I feel that it holds a lot of meaning. I think that Hawthorne spent the first chapter talking just about this rose bush to symbolize later events in the book. The fact that something so beautiful and pure can grow in front of a dirty place, like a prison, is very ironic. Also the last piece of the quote about the prisoners seeing the rose bush is like a final farewell from the earth and the last sight of beauty before they are condemned. This quote also serves as a great source of imagery. 

Image Source:
Red Rose Bush Eva Thomas. Red Rose Bush Photography. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://becuo.com/red-rose-bush-photography>.