America is a melting pot. Our leaders, immigrants from other countries, successes, and tragedies, are constantly changing this nation. American food, music, and ideals are also constantly being modified. American literature is no exception. Many great writers have influenced and reshaped our literature, and Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of them. He faced his problems and moved on. He was and is one of the most influential American writers, and he is more than a writer.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel and Elizabeth Hawthorne. His original last name was Hathorne, but he added the 'w' when he started writing to avoid confusion with his great-grandfather John Hathorne, a Salem Witch Trial judge. His grandfather was a Revolutionary War veteran, and his father, who died when he was three, was a sea captain. He also had two sisters, Elizabeth and Maria Louisa. After his father died, the Hawthorne family was poor, so his maternal grandfather, Richard Manning brought them to Lake Sebago, Maine (it was actually part of Massachusetts at that time). Considering his family history, it is not surprising that he became interested in history at a young age. His other passion was writing, and he often exchanged poems with his critical sister Elizabeth (Wineapple, 153).
Even though Nathaniel protested, Nathaniel had a college education. His uncle financed it. Nathaniel had already decided what he wanted to be. He said, "I do not want to be a doctor and live by men's diseases, nor a minister and live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So, I don't see that there is anything left but to be an author (www.egs.edu)." He entered Bowdoin College in 1821. At college, Nathaniel constantly...
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... his occupation. He overcame his feelings of rejection and lack of talent, and persevered when his early works did not work out. His masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, is still required reading in many schools, and it has been translated into many languages. In America's changing literature and
Works Cited
Epstein, Joseph, ed. Literary Genius, 25 Classic Writers Who Define American Literature. Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, 2007.
Luebering, J. E, ed. The 100 Most Influential Writers of All Time. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010.
Means, Richard. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Nathaniel Hawthorne (2006): 1. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
"Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography," www.egs.edu/library/nathaniel-hawthorne/biography/, found Mar. 12, 2014.
Wineapple, Brenda. Hawthorne, a life. Toronto, New York: Random House, 2003.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography.” The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Waggoner, Hyatt H. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In Six American Novelists of the Nineteenth Century, edited by Richard Foster. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1968.
The novel “The Scarlet Letter” was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 and is probably the book for which he is most famous. He was a prolific writer and wrote many short stories, a few collections, and several novels during his writing career. Nathaniel Hawthorne was injured as a child and became an avid reader and decided that he wanted to be a writer. Though he was a lackluster college student, after graduation he returned to his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts and began his writing career in earnest. Not only did Nathaniel Hawthorne have one of his ancestors who had been one of the three judges involved in the Salem witch trials (of which he was not too proud, but it probably helped his career because it was depicted in his writings), but also he had many influential friends to include President Franklin Pierce, Henry David Thoreau (Author), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Poet), Herman Melville (Author) and he had actually rented the “Old Manse” mentioned in “The Scarlet Letter” from Ralph Waldo Emerson (Essayist). The “Scarlet Letter” is a work of non-fiction, but the preface is loosely based on Hawthorne’s actual life due to the fact that he actually did work at the Customs House in Salem and did lose his job there, which gave
Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804 (Magill 1; Campbell 1; “Nathaniel Hawthorne”; Eldred 1). He was born into the sixth generation of his Salem family, and was a descendant of a long line of New England Puritans, which contributed in his interest in the Puritan way of life. The family was originally known as the “Hathornes”, but Nathaniel added the “w” to his name so it would become “Hawthorne”. The Hawthornes had been involved in religious persecution with their first American ancestor, William. Another ancestor, John Hathorne, was one of the three judges at the seventeenth-century Salem witchcraft trials. Hawthorne’s father was a sea captain, and when he was four years old (1808), his father died on a voyage in Surinam, Dutch Guinea (Campbell 1). Hawthorne was left alone with his mother and two sisters. He spent his early years in Salem and in Maine, during which he showed an interest in his father’s nautical adventures and read his logbooks often, even after his death (Magill 1). His maternal relatives recognized his literary talent at such a you...
In the scarlet letter the core of the story line revolves around a movement known as the Puritan. The Puritan movement began when King Henry declared England's independence from the Church of Rome and he appointed himself head of the new Church of England. King Henry did this because he wanted to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. By appointing himself head of the Church of England he was able to grant himself his own divorce that the pope would not give him. At first there was little difference between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic but later with the spread of Protestant reformers such as John Calvin the church began to change. Some people thought the church of England retained too many of the superstitious practises of the Roman Catholic Church. They wanted simpler truths and less structured forms of worship like the earlier Christians, because they wanted to purify the Church of England, they got the name of Puritans. John Geree describes the puritans as "one, that honoured God above all, and under God gave every one his due"!
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in the year 1804 in the heart of Salem, Massachusetts, where to Salem witch trials were conducted. Hawthorne was born in an unforgiving time period, where life revolved around religion and family. Hawthorne’s father died of Yellow Fever in the year 1808. Nathaniel grew up fatherless, which had a lasting effect on who he later became to be. Education at the time was centered on reading and writing, with a heavy religious influence. “The education of the next generation was important to further "purify" the church and perfect social living” (Kizer). However, since his father passed away, there was no other man to instill the Puritan beliefs into young Nathaniel. Hawthorne later on was able to see the culture through a different lens than the people surrounding him, which made him slightly opposed to the Puritan way of life. He became intellectually rebellious; not thinking in the same way that his peers or family was.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, the descendent of a long line of Puritan ancestors, including John Hathorne, a presiding magistrate in the Salem witch trials. After his father was lost at sea when he was only four, his mother became overly protective and pushed him toward more isolated pursuits. Hawthorne's childhood left him overly shy and bookish, and molded his life as a writer. Hawthorne is one of the most modern of writers who rounds off the puritan cycle in American writing
When a writer starts his work, most often than not, they think of ways they can catch their reader’s attention, but more importantly, how to awake emotions within them. They want to stand out from the rest and to do so, they must swim against the social trend that marks a specific society. That will make them significant; the way they write, how they make a reader feel, the specific way they write, and the devotion they have for their work. Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgard Allan Poe influenced significantly the American literary canon with their styles, themes, and forms, making them three important writers in America.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts which is known as, "America's capital of hauntings, diabolical occurrences, and Puritan hellfire" (Reader's Digest). The characters of his stories are usually lonely and reclusive, and this novel is no exception. Hawthorne himself stated that, "Seven Gables was 'more characteristic of the author, and a more natural book for me to write.'" (Reader's Digest).
BIOGRAM The man Nathaniel Hawthorne, an author of the nineteenth century, was born in 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. It was there that he lived a poverty-stricken childhood without the financial support of a father, because he had passed away in 1808. Hawthorne was raised strictly Puritan, his great-grandfather had even been one of the judges in the Puritan witchcraft trials during the 1600s. This and Hawthorne’s destitute upbringing advanced his understanding of human nature and distress felt by social, religious, and economic inequities.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts. His father, also Nathaniel, was a sea captain and descendent of John Hawthorne, one of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. He died when the young Nathaniel was four year old. Hawthorne grew up in seclusion with his widowed mother Elizabeth - and for the rest of her life they relied on each other for emotional solace. Later he wrote to his friend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "I have locked myself in a dungeon and I can't find the key to get out." Hawthorne was educated at the Bowdoin College in Maine (1821-24). In the school among his friends were Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who became the 14th president of the U.S.
Last year, in my final year of high school, we were assigned to read Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown." At the time, I didn't read the story too closely and I missed much of the symbolism. However, upon reading it this semester, I now appreciate it much more because it brings the reader through a roller coaster of emotions and forces him to think introspectively.
...stions about the scarlet letter have a huge role I the reader's interpretation of its meaning.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, to a family that had been prominent in the area since colonial times. Hawthorne was very handsome and never had problems with looks. When Nathaniel was four, his father died on a voyage in Surinam. Hawthorne was extremely concerned with traditional values. From 1836 to 1844, the Boston-centered Transcendentalist movement, led by Ralph Waldo Emerson, was an important force in New England intellectual circles. The Transcendentalists believed that human existence transcended the sensory realm, and rejected formalism in favor of individual responsibility. The Scarlet Letter shows some Transcendentalist influence, including a belief in individual choice and consequence, and an emphasis on symbolism.
In his late teens, Nathaniel Hawthorne refused to thrive in a usual profession, “I do not want to be a doctor and live by men's diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So, I don't see that there is anything left for me but to be...