Scarlet Letter Dialectal Journals 51-55

Chapter 24

#51

"Some affirmed that the reverend Mr. Dimmmesdale, on the very day when Hester Prynne first wore her ignominious badge, had begun a course of penance, which he afterwards, in so many futile methods, followed out, by inflicting a hideous torture on himself. 

- Dimmesdale is punishing himself by not wearing the letter, or standing upon the column with Hester, but Hawthorne depicts him doing it to show that human nature is not always honest. He does want to be a part of her life but he knows, or at least thinks, that his job will not be able to be performed if he tells the society he preaches to. 

#52

"After exhausting life in his efforts for mankind's spiritual good, he had made the manner of his death a parable, in order to impress on his admirers the might and mournful lesson, that, in the view of Infinite Purity, we are sinners all alike."

-Hawthorne conveys the very message as directly as he can in the story here. He says that no matter how he may or may not be trying to appeal to the people who love him dearly, he is a sinner, just like everyone else.

#53

"So Pearl - the elf-child, the demon offspring, as some people, up to that epoch, persisted in considering her - became the richest heiress of her day, in the New World."

-Pearl was a flower that bloomed after several years but began as hideous. Viewed by society as evil and disgusting, eventually became one of the greatest things to be.
#54
"Pearl was not only alive, but married, and happy, and mindful of her mother"
Although her mother made mistakes that haunted her childhood, she still overcame them and learned from them, as any child learns from their parents. She then lived a happy life and was mindful of the misfortunes that occurred."

#55

And relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow
- The darkest thing that had happened was that the A, the legend of the adulterers had been placed upon their graves for all of society to see. Even after death, they were not forgotten for their sins because society viewed that they should not.