Summary of Ethan Brand by Nathaniel Hawthorne Essay

      Perhaps even more telling are the conversations Satan has with himself.  Modern thinkers rightfully consider of great importance the times when man speaks to parts of his own

This pushes him to an extreme emotional limit because it represents that his entire life had been a lie and his former noble existence was all false. His desperate attempt to free himself from the world and from knowledge expresses a universal idea that humans are still unknowing and insignificant when compared to the greater spectrum of life. This relates to the theme because it shows that even though the search and curiosity of knowledge is natural, transgressing the limits can be dangerous because sometimes knowledge can be too much of a burden for humankind to handle, however inevitable, necessary, and inescapable it may be.

This is a great example of perception vs. reality as everyone makes it seem that one person might be happy, but inside they can be at the complete opposite state. This causes him to have the desire for more wisdom than what he has been taught. He wanted to find out what was really important and wanted to feel no emotion in regards to what people think of him.

In the book Ethan Frome, the characters are caught between what is right and wrong. Mattie has a torn desire to be with her sister’s husband and Ethan does not stop her because he feels the same way. The theme for the book is duty and desire. Ethan has a desire towards Mattie because she does not complain and is thought of as

It seems that as a race, humans are entangled in the never-ending battle between edacity and altruism, repeating the same mistakes and duplicating the poor decisions of those before them until they are empowered enough to believe in their own free will. It is this free will and ability to triumph that is known to us as timshel, which is one of the more central ideas about men and sin that the Steinbeck novel East of Eden embodies. It is by far the most conspicuous and pronounced of any of the arguments Steinbeck makes, and this can be attributed to its timeless relevancy. Perhaps every choice made by every individual that has existed since Genesis, as well as every choice that all generations to come have the power to make for themselves can

“The evangelist was preaching ‘sin and redemption,’ the infinite grace of God and His pardon for human frailty. He was very much in earnest, and he meant well, but Jurgis, as he listened, found his soul filled with hatred. What did he know about sin and suffering---with his smooth, black coat

John Steinbeck’s novel, “East of Eden”, discloses the answer of right and wrong, good versus evil and overcoming sin with a simple Hebrew word “Timshel”, meaning thou mayest, allowing us the freedom to make our individual decisions or choose our path in life; it’s actually God’s perfect gift to everyone. In the beginning, God grants us free will so that we have the ability to love and accept him or not. However, had God not chosen to grant us free will, we would not be human as we know it today, for the original sin would never have occurred. Likewise, people’s inability to experience emotions of any kind, whatsoever, would turn us into mere mundane robots, forced to listen and answer to an authoritarian God. Lee plays an instrumental part in “East of Eden”, by not only bringing into focus “Timshel” and its meaning to the Trask family but through his strength and character as a whole, for without Lee “East of Eden” and the concept of “Timshel” is non-existent.

Many people oppose society due to the surroundings that they face and the obstacles that they encounter. Set in the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is the story of a poor, lonely man, his wife Zeena, and her cousin Mattie Silver. Ethan the protagonist in this novel, faces many challenges and fights to be with the one he really loves. Frome was trapped from the beginning ever since Mattie Silver came to live with him and his wife. He soon came to fall in love with her, and out of love with his own wife. He was basically trapped in the instances of his life, society’s affect on the relationship, love, poverty, illness, disability, and life.

A novel is only as great as its author’s efforts. The ability to tie everything together in the end of a novel without leaving any unsolved questions, or relying on the ex machina technique, is the goal in which all inspiring authors reach for. Novelist Edith Wharton once said, “At every stage in the progress of his tale the novelist must rely on what may be called the “illuminating incident” to reveal and emphasize the inner meaning of each situation. Illuminating incidents are the magic casements of fiction, its vistas on infinity.” This idea came from Wharton’s own work, The Writing of Fiction. In a different work of hers, a novel by the name of Ethan Frome, Wharton explores the concept of the illuminating incident very thoroughly. I have

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of American literature's finest writers; his writing style was very distinct and unusual in some aspects. It is his background that provided this ambiguous and complex approach to writing. Hawthorne's New England heritage has, at times, been said to be the contributing factor in his works. The Puritan view of life itself was considered to be allegorical, their theology rested primarily on the idea of predestination and the separation of the saved and the damned As evident from Hawthorne's writings his intense interest in Puritanical beliefs often carried over to his novels such as, Young Goodman Brown, The Scarlet Letter, and The Minister's Black Veil just to name a few of the more well known pieces of his work.

Edwards demonstrates that the lives of the sinners, those who break away from the church, are in great danger and are in infinite misery if they continue their “natural conditions.”

This notion of depravity is also seen within the bible resembling when Adam and Eve eat poison fruit from the tree. The curse begins to lift and the path of forgiveness emerges only after the Mariner’s thoughts transform from

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”

Often in society people are criticized, punished and despised for their individual choices and flaws. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author uses Hester Prynne to symbolize that those who challenge social conformities can benefit society as a whole. Though she has been banished for committing adultery, she sees that the community needs her. Through her generous accomplishments the community realizes she is a person who, regardless of her sin, can affect the community in a positive way.

With most writers, readers can identify what topics they tend to write about, how long their pieces often are, and what personal style these authors develop. While this is true of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are different elements that influence his writings. His life included many times of trials, many joys, and many ancestors that caused some turmoil within his mind. Two of his major works are influenced almost directly by his background (Werlock). Nathaniel Hawthorne threw his life into every single piece of his writing. His experiences, background, and the setting in which his life took place are prominent