Help with a quote from the Scarlet Letter.?

The quote basically means that men, possibly people in general, wear facades in public that differ from how they truly are. When someone is forced to do that for a certain period of time [varies with different people] they start to lose understanding of which "self" is really them. An example could be if your a nerd/bookworm when you're alone but around people you act as a tough guy or pretend as if you despise reading. After a while, you may lose yourself and start to forget whether you love reading or hate it.