Comparative Study of the Disciplinary Spaces in The Scarlet Letter and White Deer Plains

Ziying Zhang

doi:10.54691/wwqvjd04

Authors

Ziying Zhang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54691/wwqvjd04

Keywords:

The Scarlet Letter; White Deer Plains; Scaffold; Clan Hall; Space.

Abstract

Despite the vast temporal and spatial disparities, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Chen Zhongshi’s White Deer Plains both reveal how dominant cultural systems of a certain society impose discipline and punishment on the deviant behaviors of individuals. The core disciplinary spatial images in these two works-the scaffold in Puritan society and the clan hall in Confucian patriarchal society-serve as critical focal points for analysis. As material entities, their architectural layouts symbolize the ethical orders of their societies. As carriers of power, they materialize and function as primary sites for the enactment of religious theocracy and clan authority. As technologies of discipline, they employ mechanisms such as public shaming and ritualized punishment to subjugate the human body. Utilizing the space theories of Henri Lefebvre and Michel Foucault, this comparative study explores how space is shaped by power and, in turn, operationalizes power within Western Puritan and Chinese Confucian clan societies. It further examines the varied responses and resistance strategies individuals adopt when confronted with spatial discipline. It deepens the understanding of the dynamic relationships among space, power, and the body, revealing the perennial tension between individual freedom and social norms across cultural contexts.

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