The weakness of this passage is that it fails to make a strong claim. The passage describes a couple of characteristics of The Scarlet Letter, as well as a couple of characteristics of Moby Dck. However, it does not clearly explain what these passages have in common, why they are being compared, or what the author is trying to show. Without a claim, the readers cannot understand what the passage is trying to demonstrate and therefore, are not likely to continue reading it.
