The Custom House by John Franzosa

Chelsey Wilkins


The Custom House

John Franzoa’s, “The Custom House,” was basically an editorial review of the original book, “The Scarlet Letter.”The short stories broke down the different methods used in the book and what they symbolized. Even though Hawthorne disagreed with some of his ideas, the “editorial” appealed to rhetorical and literary devices.


In the short story, diction stood out. John was obviously very passionate about his editorials and really took the time to break down the symbolism used in, “The Scarlet Letter.” John used vivid describing words that helped express his descriptions. Words such as corruption, partisanship, compels, and venerable were of the more sophisticated vocabulary and really helped the meaning of his ideas.

Secondly, John used the sense of imagery to technically base his short story. Imagery was in tact at the very first sentence when John gave his audience a sense of setting when the editorial was published. Another example of imagery, “as the Scarlet Letter opens, throng of beard men… inter mixed with women ..,” gives the audience vivid imagery. It allowed the audience to picture what a group of anxious people look like waiting.

Lastly, the rhetorical device pathos was used. John had to have some type of dedication to his work in order to annotate “The Scarlet Letter.” The fact that John even risked the resentment of another author in order to express his opinion, contributed to strong sense of pathos. Not pathos in the sense of romanticsm but John’s eagerness and dedication to his work.

To conclude, John Franzosa likes to criticize other writings. He did mention some of the good qualities used in “The Scarlet Letter,” but mostly used rhetorical devices to break down the symbolism used. Pathos in the form of dedication, diction, and imagery was used most.