I found the Custom House to be very... Random. I was not quite positive what all it actually had to do with the overall story of The Scarlet Letter. At the end, Hawthorne describes how he came about the story itself and also the process of writing it, which seems pretty relevant. However, the first half of the chapter was mostly about Salem and the people he worked with. I know that it was intended to provide credibility to the story, but I can't help and think it could have been done in a much shorter manner.
The fact that it was suppose to lend credibility is also completely defeated by the footnote that says "There is no actual evidence that any of these events occurred outside of Hawthorne's mind."
There were some lines throughout Custom House that I did enjoy, however. Here's a few:
"...It would be quite as reasonable to form a sentimental attachment to a disarranged checkerboard." pg. 11
"Sagaciously, under their spectacles, did they peep into the holds of vessels! Mighty was their fuss about little matters, and marvellous, sometimes, the obtuseness that allowed greater ones to slip through their fingers!" pg 15
"In once case, however, it is real sunshine; in the other, it more resembles the phosphorescent glow of decaying wood." pg. 16
"It is sorrowful to think how many days, and weeks, and months, and years of toil had been wasted on these musty papers, which were now only an encumbrance on earth, were hidden away in this forgotten corner, never more to be glanced at by human eyes. pg 24
"My imagination was a tarnished mirror." pg. 28
I also found the part where Hawthorne talks about all the time he spent with various authors, including Thoreau, Channing, Emerson, and Alcott. When I first read it, I thought he meant it figuratively, before I realized he was actually friends with all of them. What a thought! Imagine all these, now very famous authors, sitting around discussing literature. What I wouldn't give to have been there!
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