I loved the Scarlet Letter! except for maybe that the characters all talked the same, including Pearl. But then I realized that I ought to read the introduction. I didn't get it... What was the point of the introduction? I understood about Hawthorne's reason why he wrote the book (to make up for the shame he felt from his puritain ancestors) and that it describes the inspration with the old letter and the ghost. But what was the point of all the politics? This is probably why I got lost (my mind usually wanders on the subject of politics), but the Custom House and all the other characters in the intro (except maybe the old man) didn't really fit in anywhere. Can someone tell me what I missed?