"A 'place in the mind', wherever or whatever it may be, can only ever be fictitious. In the act of its creation, the 'place' is formed by a process that necessitates an imaginative leap; it does not actually exist, and therefore its constituent elements have to be imagined, made up by the creator. For a place - in this case, America - to exist in the realms of the mind, it must be a place that exists outside of a corporeal, material reality. Fiction becomes the perfect arena to present this place, because its very nature allows imagined, idealised and remembered places to exist, a venue where the intangibility of these places can achieve a tangible realisation. Between the pages of a book, the place in the mind can become real, if only for a while; the America that exists between the pages of its nation's fiction is often an America of the mind, but an America that for a fleeting moment achieves a kind of actuality."
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Blithedale Romance", is the first person narration of a man bent upon joining a world that has no need of him by imposing an arbitrary order upon his reality. Blithedale, is a novel of polarities. Just as Coverdale imposes order on reality, Zenobia, the feminine voice of creation, understands reality as a fragmented thing that cannot have order forced upon it. We see in the novel oppositions in communities, in social order, and in place. But, Hawthorne also gives us a richly crafted story about what it is that defines community and the common spirit or communal soul. The romance, of this book, is not just that of man and woman, but of the romantic ideals of society and of order. Coverdale, who is the namesake of the primary translator of the King James bible, is a man bent upon making the world be what he wants it to be. Hawthorne's, The Blithedale Romance, provides the reader with a set of beliefs, ideals, and aspirations, that become ideologies that actually mask reality thus pitting the utopian hopes of Blithedale against actual human behaviors - which makes for a difficult conflict at best
Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, into an old Puritan family. Hawthorne's own 17th-century ancestors, as he frankly admitted, had been among the real-life Puritan zealots. "Young Goodman Brown" is a story of initiation. Evil is the nature of mankind.
Young Goodman Brown was a man who was naïve to the world around him. Ever since he was a child, he had always practiced a very Godly life. Not only does he believe that everyone around him follows the same path, but he also believes that it is the only path. This naivety and innocence was taken from him by the Devil, who opened his eyes to the world of evil around him. After the pagan ceremony, which Brown attends, the Devil even states “Now are ye undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind” (Hawthorne 9). By saying this, Hawthorne is trying to say that it is better to know the whole truth than to live a lie. By not knowing the truth about evil existing in Salem village, Brown has essentially been living a life that is not complete or accurate. This perfect and fair world that was found in the Bible is not the real world that surrounds him. When his innocence is stolen from him so abruptly, he begins to lose both his faith and stability in the world.
...to establish community in a predetermined world. The latter painting only results in isolation, in the “death-in-life” state even Coverdale cannot escape at the end. The “bubbled” world encapsulated in the revelers’ painting offers a momentarily glimpse into the ending Hawthorne does not give the romance. Rather, he leaves us with the last painting’s lesson, the “broken bubble” that not only describes Blithedale, Hollingsworth, and Zenobia, it also describes Coverdale, who sits in judgement on others, even in his memory, and leaves himself, like the “New England toper,” in isolation. If, in Hawthorne’s view, we should accept a predetermined course, acknowledging that we have no free will and no possibility for a Paradisiacal world devoid of corruption, then we should also learn to share together in a communal spirit that ultimately defeats absolutism and isolation.
Deadly and helpful, science is a dual-edged sword. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the first to emphasize this through his literary works. “Rappaccini's Daughter” and “The Birthmark” are two of his works where he teaches this lesson through the trials of his characters. Focusing on the motif of the “mad scientist”, Hawthorne brings to light the points that people struggle with humanity, learning to love themselves and others, and that science can be more harmful then helpful.
Knowing and understanding social, political, and cultural history is extremely important when reading many novels, especially Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent and any short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both of these authors had many extinuating circumstances surrounding their writings that should be noted before reading their works. Without knowing what was happening both in the outside world and in the respected author's life, one cannot truly grasp what the author is trying to say or what the author truly means by what he or she is saying. In this paper, I will show how important it is for the reader to understand the social, political, and cultural happenings in the writer's lives and in the world surrounding them during the times that their works were written.
Hawthorne knew that all men are defective. Earth's Holocaust is his most striking statement of the theme, but every story and novel is based on that premise. Those who ignore human imperfection in their planning become, like Aylmer of The Birthmark, destroyers rather than creators. From his knowledge of universal depravity came and not as paradoxically as it may seem a humility and a sense of social solidarity too often lacking in our young critics of society. The society with which he was concerned was a wider society. As we have noted, his people are often ''saved'' through love for one other person. The heart is touched by love, bringing warmth, or ''reality." But the saved one does not then withdraw with his loved one in a society of the elect; he does not join a Brook Farm or a commune. He returns to the larger society, to what Lewis calls "the tribe." He is defective and incomplete-as it is defective and incomplete; he needs it as it needs him. Thus love unites Phoebe and Holgrave, but also serves the larger social purpose of uniting two warring families, displacing hate by love and "cleansing'' a cursed house. Love for Clifford brings Hepzibah out of destructive pride and isolation into intercourse with the world. Hester is saved at the end not by the "consecration of its own" she once thought blessed her union with Dimmesdale, not by escape into ...
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.
Through the work of "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne is able to express his views of hypocrisy in Puritanism. Goodman Brown was convinced that his Puritan family was sinless and deserved to be honored. When traveling through the forest he says, "My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs" ("Young Goodman Brown" 238). What Goodman Brown does not know is that his previous generations have taken part in these sinful actions that occurred in the woods. Although Brown's ancestors were supposedly righteous Puritans, they were involved in lashing a Quaker woman and setting fire to an Indian village, according to the traveler speaking with Brown. Through these stories that the traveler tells, Hawthorne makes known to his readers that Puritan's are hypocrites because they say they are holy and pure when in reality they are committing impious actions. Throughout this story Young Goodman Brown takes his journey through the woods and sees nearly eve...
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
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's literature exhibits the influence of many factors. Much of his literature addresses Puritan culture in early America, commonly focusing on the shortcomings and hypocrisies that became apparent during the numerous witch hunts. Many of his works are allegorical, using the Puritan setting to portray his own ideas about ancestry, history, and religion. While The Scarlet Letter and House of the Seven Gables are among Hawthorne's most known works, he produced a large sum of work, including many famous short stories. The most important of these, "Young Goodman Brown," is noted for its vivid depiction of witch craft and Puritan culture. However, it is of greater significance because the story clearly exhibits the marks of Hawthorne's influences.
The puritan roots that ran in the northeastern part of the country was a way that Hawthorne used to show his underlying messages in many of his works. However, as opposed to the previous works that the country produced, Hawthorne’s used the puritan religion as a means to an end, not as an example or testimony of how to live. A keen example of this is in Hawthorne’s 1835 work, “Young Goodman Brown.” The symbolism is evident as first simply from the title. Hawthorne is attempting to write a story about a young, good man, creating this persona by creating the image of a devout person, first hinting at this through his location, Salem (Hawthorne 87). Salem is the location of the witch trials that Hawthorne’s ancestors were a part of, and from this location Hawthorne is showing that Brown is a puritan, but also that he is a part of a society that can lose sight of their shortcomings. This is something that would not be evident in earlier American writings. Writing about the shortcomings of devout people was not widely recognized as religion to these people was life
Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism throughout his short story Young Goodman Brown to impact and clarify the theme of good people sometimes doing bad things. Hawthorne uses a variety of light and dark imagery, names, and people to illustrate irony and different translations. Young Goodman Brown is a story about a man who comes to terms with the reality that people are imperfect and flawed and then dies a bitter death from the enlightenment of his journey through the woods. Images of darkness, symbolic representations of names and people and the journey through the woods all attribute to Hawthorne's theme of good people sometimes doing bad things.
To truly comprehend the themes in "Young Goodman Brown" you must first understand the influences on Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing. According to the website Hawthorneinsalem.org, Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, son of also a Nathaniel Hawthorne, was actually a descendant of John Hathorne, one of the judges who oversaw the Salem Witch Trials. Because of Hawthorne's Puritan upbringing, much of writings are moral allegories set in colonial New England. Hawthorne returns again to Salem in "Young Goodman Brown" and deals with the theme of the loss of innocence. This theme works to argue the benefits and consequences of Goodman Brown's beliefs before and after his encounter with the devil as well as the beliefs of the Puritans as a whole.
Mrs. Leavis comes closest to the truth in her discussion of this story in the Sewanee Review in which she says: "Hawthorne has imaginatively recreated for the reader that Calvinist sense of sin, that theory which did in actuality shape the early social and spiritual history of New England." But Mrs. Leavis seems to miss the critical implications of the story, for she goes on to say: "But in Hawthorne, by a wonderful feat of transmutation, it has no religious significance, it is a psychological state that is explored. Young Goodman Brown's Faith is not faith in Christ but faith in human beings, and losing it he is doomed to isolation forever." Those who persist in reading this story as a study of the effects of sin on Brown come roughly to this conclusion: "Goodman Brown became evil as a result of sin and thought he saw evil where none existed." Hawthorne's message is far more depressing and horrifying than this. The story is obviously an individual tragedy, and those who treat it as such are right, of course; but, far beyond the personal plane, it has universal implications.
“The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”.” Online, Available @ http://itech.fgcu.edu/facualty/uzapart/alra/Hawthorne.htm