Dysphemism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Custom-House

Hawthorne uses extended metaphors to convey his attitude about the US Federal government. He describes the eagle as “hovering” to relate to how the government is always there to protect Americans and uses “intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw” to show the harshness of the federal government. When Hawthorne states that the eagle “is apt to fling off her nestlings”, he means that the US federal government is not trustworthy and can ruin your life (like how the new form of government kicked him from his job).

Although it is mentioned the narrator in the custom house is not Nathaniel Hawthorne, they are both very similar. The narrator is carefully constructed as being similar to Hester in the sense that they are both isolated by people whom they have no connection to. The author feels this way working in the custom house surrounded by old men. “I am a citizen of somewhere else” (31). Hester, of course, is isolated from the rest of the community because of her sin. Even though the narrator feels he will be criticized for attempting to make a writing career, he makes a fictional account of Hester’s story anyways. Writing for him is similar to needle work for Hester, and it is a further comparison of two similar characters. The author evolves Hester into himself, and it is made clear that is his intention.

Hawthorne was able to show the true intentions and feelings of characters and the relationships between characters. He did this because he wanted the readers to understand that the Puritan society was not as religious or great as it is sometimes portrayed as. Even though their intentions were right with wanting to start a new religious society in the New World, they had their faults. Hawthorne is able to address these through the use of ironies. For example, having the reverend that everyone looks up to and emulates, be suffering from committing a very sinful act. Also, having the townspeople contradict the meaning of the scarlet A, and see it as a positive thing after Hester has just endured the torture of isolation and banishment. Overall, Hawthorne is trying to express his personal views on the Puritan society through the use of

During the 17th century, a Puritan commonwealth presided over Boston and was known for its strict adherence to religious, moral and social codes. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes rhetorical strategies in order to denounce the Puritan system of beliefs and bring to light the hypocrisy of the Puritan community as he tells the agonizing story of a young woman who was condemned by society.

One of the strikingly well used rhetorical devices that Hawthorne includes in “The Custom House” is imagery. He sets the mood at the Custom House by explaining the dull scenery, and these sketches lead the reader to make deeper connections about the story. “Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears, by the fierceness of her beak and

He uses the rhetorical device catachresis, or a hyperbolic metaphor and consonant blends when describing his ancestors to stress his already made emphasis on his views of them. There can be little doubt of Hawthorne's disdain for the stern morality and rigidity of the Puritans, and he imagines his predecessors' disdainful view of him: unsuccessful in their eyes, worthless and disgraceful. "A writer of story books!" But even as he disagrees with his ancestor's viewpoint, he also feels an instinctive connection to them and, more importantly, a "sense of place" in Salem. Their blood remains in his veins, but their intolerance and lack of humanity become the subject of his novel.

The purpose of this chapter is to give sort of a background to the novel. It introduces Salem as well as Puritan society and the Custom house. The author's attitude toward his old job and workers is mainly positive, giving descriptions of the groups and people. He puts them in either a mundane or positive light by showing their qualities even if they are strange. An example of this is his description of the General's overwhelming kindness or the President's love of past meals (Hawthorne, 284). Even though they are seen as positive, the author still shows they no longer belong at the Custom house. He states " [they knew] they ought to have given place to younger men" (Hawthorne, 280). He sees them generally as senile and unfit for their jobs, but still as people. Because the author address

The novel The House of Seven Gables conveys its messages through the usage of images, which is done through inanimate object or places. This can be seen in the house of the seven gables and the daguerreotype of judge Pyncheon. Hawthorne present these images in such a manner, that their original meaning in the novel is no longer applicable. While many see his writing style as a tedious form, such writing has made the images created by Nathanial Hawthorne. Nathanial Hawthorne may be seen as a writer with a tedious writing style, such as the long descriptions of the images in the novel. Nevertheless it’s an effective manner to use allegory in a novel.

American Literature reflects life, and the struggles that we face during our existence. The great authors of our time incorporate life’s problems into their literature directly and indirectly. The stories themselves bluntly tell us a story, however, an author also uses symbols to relay to us his message in a more subtle manner. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book The House of Seven Gable’s symbolism is eloquently used to enhance the story being told, by giving us a deeper insight into the author’s intentions in writing the story.

In 1862, Nathaniel Hawthorne met the then President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Hawthorne Describes Lincoln’s impressions on him during this meeting by using both positive and negative diction in a neutral-positive light; he also uses imagery to help the reader understand Lincoln’s first impression. Hawthorne uses a great deal of diction to make the reader reflect on what he or she just read. The large and uncommon words such as “veritable specimen,” “vicissitudes,” “uncouthness,” and “insalubrious” make the reader understand the text more as well.

In stark comparison to his ancestors, his life was relatively normal; he was married with children and spent his days doing what he loved the most, writing. Hawthorne would often draw from his own personal understandings or beliefs, just as he did when he wrote “but the past was not dead” in “The Custom House”. It was evident that Hawthorne’s Puritan past was alive within him, and even after his death in 1864; it continued to live on forever in the pages of his books.

In the first Chapter of The Scarlet Letter, "The Prison-Door", the reader is immediately introduced to the people of Puritan Boston. Hawthorne begins to develop the character of the common people in order to build the mood of the story. The first sentence begins, "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes" (Hawthorne 45). Hawthorne's use of vivid visual images and his Aaccumulation of emotionally weighted details" (Baym xii) creates sympathy for the not yet introduced character, Hester Prynne, and creates an immediate understanding of the harshness of the Puritanic code in the people. The images created give the freedom to imagine whatever entails sadness and morbidity of character for the reader; Hawthorne does not, however, allow the reader to imagine lenient or cheerful people.

At the outset of the story, when Hester is first portrayed, Hawthorne uses contrasting word choice to show to readers her nature, which, despite her unfortunate situation, was angelic. He creates the angelic scene as he describes: “…her beauty shone out and made a halo,” (48). His positive word choice, “shone” and “halo,” reveals the angelic, uplifted tendencies of Hester. He continues in his description: “a halo of misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped,” (48). His contrary negative word choice, “misfortune” and “ignominy,” conveys to readers the solemn misfortune that is her situation.

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne frequently manifests this aspect of the Puritans through the delivery of the writing itself, which is often remarkably descriptive, expositional, and dark. “’The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen the, but merciful overmuch, --that is a truth,’ added a third autumnal matron. ‘At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead.” (Hawthorne, 56). From this portion of the story, readers can immediately recognize that Hawthorne has a rather negative view of the Puritans and his Puritan past, which can be understood with the implications in the first two chapters alone, without even reading the Custom House narrative. Another example of Hawthorne’s depiction of the Puritans is seen in the following: “’At the great judgment day!’ whispered the minister, […] the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting’” (Hawthorne, 179). Shifting the focus from the Puritan community to the actual religious leaders, themselves, readers can see that Hawthorne depicts the ministers as cruel, unforgiving, and overall judgmental, just as he portrays the

     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.