An Individual 's War : The American Voice

The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the nephew of John Hathorne. During the Salem Witch Trials, the only judge that did not apologize for the remorseless and cruel acts that were put upon many men and women was in fact John Hathorne. Nathaniel changed his last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne in an attempt to disassociate himself from his uncle. John Hathorne is the reason why Nathaniel Hawthorne is obsessed with the puritan times. Hawthorne lived in the 1800s, but the setting of the novel is based before the Salem Witch Trials were held in the 1600s. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the scarlet letter, Dimmesdale, and burrs to contribute to the overall theme of guilt.

The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later” (Blumberg). The period in which the Salem Witch Trials took place was a dark period in American history. America was a vast wilderness, unexplored, corrupted by an overzealous society. This group of people is known as the puritans. Their christian based faith was strict but their punishments were even stricter. Their actions and crimes they commited impacted generations after generations to come. A good example of this can be seen through Nathaniel Hawthorne's writings especially his best selling novel “The Scarlet Letter”. His novel is the tale of a young puritan girl, named Hester Prynne ,who is too harshly judged for her actions. Some might observe that these three things are connected. These observers are right. These three topics are all connected by the idea of women oppression and how the early puritans and the Salem Witch Trials were cancerous to american society. The Puritans beliefs and their involvement in the Salem Witch Trials, as proven by the writings of American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, is seen in the long run

Nathaniel Hawthorne comes from a bloodline that is associated with the Salem witch trials in 1692. His great-great-grandfather was a puritan that took part in the executions during the witch trilas, explaining Hawthorne’s fondness with the religion. Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his interest in the News England Puritan past. Most of Hawthorne’s writings implement the Puritan ways and faith in which most of the characters act upon or main faith is revolved around. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Scarlet Letter” are both one of Hawthorne’s many pieces that are prime examples of the Puritan religion affecting his writing. Through the story Hawthorne uses many allegories representing Christian, but also puritan faith and many symbols relating to them also.

Tiara, I think you hit the nail right on the head. The United States government is a case in point that has helped a lot of countries and we continue to do so, on a regular base. We the people or government that the people elected help so much throughout the world because of our Christian faith this country was built on. There are times, such as after a war, the United States disengages from the country early leaving the citizens and an unprepared military to fend for themselves. Although things may have been not the best before we engaged in war, when leaving a country in an unprepared situation can result in rebel forces taking over, creating a possible more threating situation.

The United States is presently at war in Iraq and Afghanistan where American troops are fighting and dying. At home, cars and homes display solid yellow or red, white, and blue ribbons that call for Americans to “Support Our Troops.” It is patriotic for Americans to support their daughters and sons fighting in a war, but this patriotism does not mean that Americans must blindly support the decision to go to war. Being patriotic means that Americans must do the opposite: they must question their government. Questioning the government, voting, and respecting the rights of others are what makes true patriots in a democratic society; blind following of one’s government creates dictatorships.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most important authors in the history of American literature and the genre of Romanticism or Dark Romanticism, due to his unique style of writing and his focus upon subjects of Puritan religion and the unknown. I consider Hawthorne an important author, due to the fact that he skillfully and accurately based his fictional writings upon happenings of colonial times, was one of the first authors to display unfortunate outcomes for his characters’ immoral choices according to Puritan beliefs, and wrote of things that were considered taboo in his time, such as witchcraft, scientific innovation and experimentation. I strongly believe that Hawthorne’s influence for his writings were his Puritan ancestral background, his fascination with Puritan beliefs, and his interest in what was considered the unknown such as witchcraft and science. According to the Norton Anthology Textbook Vol. B, Nathaniel Hawthorne was “born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804” (370). Hawthorne belonged “to a family whose ancestral roots were tied to Puritan history, with his family being among the first settlers of Massachusetts and having one of his relatives serve as a judge during the Salem witch trials” (370). Hawthorne, as a young boy, “had a particular interest in writings such as John Bunyan’s Puritan allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, and by his mid-teens he took interest in British novelists such as Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollet, William Godwin, and Sir Walter Scott”

On July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, Nathaniel Hathorne was born to Nathaniel Hathorne and Elizabeth Clark Manning Hathorne. Not wanting his name to be thought of in the likes of John Hathorne, a distinguished figure in the Salem witch trials of the late 1600s, Nathaniel added a ‘w’ to his name when he began his writing career. Nathaniel Hawthorne was only four when his father, the captain of a ship, died from yellow fever. Much of Hawthorne’s childhood was spend living with his mother, sisters, and uncles. Robert Manning, one of his uncles, was quite taken by a young Nathaniel and was the financing behind Hawthorne’s years at Bowdoin College. He began publishing short stories during his college education and continued to write after his graduation in 1925.

Before discussing his works, it is important to explore Hawthorne’s background to better understand how they connect to his writing and to his use of dark romanticism. Hawthorne came from Puritan ancestry. His family was actively involved in religious persecution of others and participated heavily in witch trials. Hawthorne added a "w" to his last name in efforts to avoid any correlation with his family’s dark past. As a writer, Hawthorne is portrayed as a dark romantic during a time period where colleagues such as Emerson and Thoreau were seen as transcendentalists (Bacon). They believed that people and nature were inherently good if they were self-reliant and demonstrated individual strength. Hawthorne’s perspective was quite different since he believed that everyone had a dark side and that sin and guilt were needed in order to find ones true self in society.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ancestors had lived in Salem since the 1600’s (“Nathaniel Hawthorne”) ,He had a mother and a father, but his father died when he was just four years old, uncles, a grandfather named Richard, and a wife and son later in his life (Ramsey). He was also a descendant of a judge in the Salem witch trials (Liukkonen, Petri). Nathaniel Hawthorne was Born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. “When Nathaniel’s father -a ship’s captain- died during one of his voyages, he left his young widow without means to care for her two girls and young Nathaniel, aged four.” (“Nathaniel Hawthorne”). After his father’s death, he moved in with his well-off uncle who supported Nathaniel. He spent most of his childhood in Maine playing in the woods, learning many different things from the Indians in his area. “Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a man who was both plagued and absorbed by the legacy of the Puritans in New England. He was related to John Hathorne, a Puritan judge during the infamous Salem Witch trials of 1692. In The Scarlet Letter, his fictional account of mid-17th century Boston presents an opportunity to examine different themes commonly associated with Puritans. Particularly the nature of sin, personal identity and the repression of natural urges are themes that appear repeatedly through the novel. While his account of this time period may not be completely historically accurate, it is indicative of the persistent thematic influence of Puritan culture on American and New England society.

Hawthorne describes “No aim, that I have ever cherished, would they recognize as laudable; no success of mine – if my life, beyond its domestic scope, had ever been bright-ended by success – would they deem otherwise, if not positively disgraceful. ‘What is he?’ murmurs one gray shadow of my forefathers to the other. ‘A writer of story-books! What kind of business in life, – what made of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation – may that be?’ … And yet, let them scorn me as they will, strong traits of their nature have intertwined themselves with mine” (Hawthorne 10-11). This best exemplifies the Hawthorne’s purpose and message because it explains that the Puritan culture is different from that of Salem. Hawthorne explains that his ancestors would criticize him because he lives differently than how the Puritans had lived. Writing this story interests Hawthorne because it has to do with people from his past. Although Hawthorne lives differently from the Puritans, the Puritans also had “strong traits of nature [that] have intertwined themselves with mine”. This shows that Hawthorne criticizes the strictness of the Puritans. In Hawthorne’s story, he uses Hester to show the Puritan beliefs for sin in the life of the Puritans to show that the Puritans had strict punishments for sin. Hawthorn also uses Dimmesdale to show that even the holiest Puritans also

Set in 17th century New England, Hawthorne utilizes this short story to convey his distaste for the Salem Witch Trials and his great-grandfather, John Hathorne’s participation as a judge. In addition, he demonstrates the Puritan idea that all humans are in a state of corruption until you have experienced a conversion, only sanctioned by God to become part of “the elite”.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was author of, The Birthmark, The House of the Seven Gables, The Scarlet Letter, and Young Goodman Brown was also an investigator of moral ideas who was also known as the father of the psychological novel. Hawthorne did not want to be anything like his ancestors; his grandfather was a judge that executed a lot of innocent people during the Salem witch trials. Puritans culture, and the bible is what influenced Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work the most, his writing style was romance fiction but also representative by his own beliefs.

Nathaniel Hathorne was born into the family of William Hathorne. William was one of the magistrates who sentenced the Quaker women to death during the Salem Witch Trials He was born into a family with a very strong Puritan heritage. As he grew up, he was ashamed to be related to the Hathorne bloodline of William Hathorne. He was, as Hawthorne later characterized him, "a bitter persecutor" of Quakers. In particular, was solely responsible for ordering the whipping of Ann Coleman. Hawthorne refers to this ancestor as a persecutor of Quakers. Due to this, he eventually changed his last name by adding a “W” to it. He did this in an attempt to conceal his relation to William. His heritage affects him majorly throughout his entire life (Bloom 11; “Nathaniel Hawthorne” Web).

The brilliant work of Nathaniel Hawthorne has been critiqued and praised by numerous scholars for generations. The gothic style and gloomy tones within Hawthorne’s writing is extremely prevalent through his symbolism and themes, which has been seen as a staple of his work. Nathaniel Hawthorne is credited to be one the greatest and most influential American writers in history. Similar to Edgar Allen Poe, Hawthorne is most famous for his short stories and his impact in the Dark Romanticism genre. Hawthorne’s ability to take his dark past and use it as a creative tool for writing truly exhibits Hawthorne as not only an author but an artist. I Chose Nathaniel Hawthorne because out of all the authors, I loved his writing style and themes the most. I am fascinated by his troubled past and the Salem witch trials. One of my favorite books to read in high school was the “Crucible”, which is a play about the Salem Witch trials; so, reading Hawthorne’s work feels like my favorite fantasy reimagined. One of my favorite aspects about Hawthorne and his short story “Young Goodman Brown” is the relationship Hawthorne has with the reader. Hawthorne gives a lot of creative power to the reader to theorize and contemplate. Hawthorne is known for his open-ended endings which leaves the reader constantly pondering and reflecting on the story to truly understand the story and theme. It is not just about the feeling and excitement you get while reading a story, but how you can take that