Hawthorne discusses the merits of sharing autobiographical information with his readers and then describes the circumstances he says inspired The Scarlet Letter.

Hawthorne explains that he has always felt drawn to Salem—his birthplace, and the town where his ancestors lived for centuries. When he decided to take a break from writing in 1846, he therefore took a job overseeing the Salem Custom House. He found the work deadening and his colleagues unimaginative and incompetent. He draws particular attention to the “Inspector” and the “Collector”: the former is an elderly but vigorous and cheerful man Hawthorne describes as having “no soul, no heart, no mind; nothing […] but instincts” (20), while the latter is a retired military officer who spends most of his time staring into space. Hawthorne’s account of these and other coworkers is generally good-humored, but he notes that their complacency and amorality might have worn off on him if he had remained at the Custom House.

Hawthorne then explains that while going through old papers one afternoon, he found a “certain affair of fine red cloth, much worn and faded” (31) in the shape of a letter A. The papers associated with the letter identified it as belonging to a woman named