Fifty years after its appearance, The Scarlet Letter and Nathaniel Hawthorne were firmly ensconced in the canon of great American literature, partly on the merits of Hawthorne's place in the New England school. For Hillis, a minister, greatness was a moral delineation:

Hillis saw The Scarlet Letter not only as a psychological novel, but as a moral and religious commentary, titling his essay on The Scarlet Letter, "Conscience and the Retributive Workings of Justice. A Study of the Necessity and Nobility of Repentance, and the Confession of Sin."