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Nathaniel Hawthorne. By: Ryan “Shrock” Shrock And Jena Raquel Freeman. Family. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804 He descended from a Puritan family One ancestor was a judge in the Salem Witch Trials Another ancestor was known for persecuting Quakers. Beliefs.
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Nathaniel Hawthorne By: Ryan “Shrock” Shrock And Jena Raquel Freeman
Family • Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804 • He descended from a Puritan family • One ancestor was a judge in the Salem Witch Trials • Another ancestor was known for persecuting Quakers
Beliefs • Hawthorne is sometimes referred to as an Anti-Transcendentalist because he lived in a time when many people glorified power in the human spirit but he chose not to accept such optimistic views • He believed evil was a driving force in the world and his writings portray a depressing view of human affairs
Hawthorne’s characteristics and focus of his writings were on a sense of inherited guilt • He felt guilty for the cruelty of his ancestors even though he was born 112 years after the Salem witch trials and he himself was not a Puritan
First novel: Fanshawe 1828 • After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825, he secluded himself at his mother’s house in Salem and wrote his first novel • Anonymously published in 1828 • Nathaniel was ashamed of it and burned most available copies
In 1837 he wrote a collection of stories called Twice Told Tales • Although not many copies were sold, it made him a respected writer, and encouraged him to continue his writing
Marriage • In 1842 he married Sophia Peabody and moved to Concord, Massachusetts • He spent time with Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson but their opposing beliefs made it difficult to have a better friendship • While in Concord, Hawthorne published Mosses From an Old Manse in 1846 • He also had a daughter named “Una”
He and his family moved back to Salem when he was appointed surveyor at the Salem customhouse • In 1850 he was forced out of office by an administration change • He then published his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, which was a novel about guilt and sin among the Puritans • It was very successful, and earned him international recognition as a talented author • In 1851 he wrote The House of Seven Gables, and The Blithedale Romance a year later
After traveling to Italy, he wrote The Marble Faun in 1860 • The theme of the story is guilt, and the Fall of Man • And then died in his sleep four years later