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The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne
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On Hawthorne’s career choice…in his own words
“I do not want to be a doctor and live by men’s diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer to live by their quarrels. So, I don’t see that there is anything left for me but to be an author.”
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Writing didn’t provide financial security for his family, so he took a job as a surveyor for the port of
Salem.
• Lost this position when the Whigs won in 1848 election
• This job loss gave him the time to write The Scarlet Letter (1850)
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• Became acquainted with Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson (transcendentalists)
• They influenced his thinking about the importance of intuition rather than intellect in uncovering the truths of nature and human beings.
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Hawthorne disagreed with them though…
• If left to their own devices, humans would not act “good” as transcend. thought
• Humans are flawed and primal urges would prevail
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Evidence of this…
• The Civil War
• Slavery
• Hawthorne had grown up with some Puritan influences…grandfather actually participated in Salem Witch Trials (Hathorne)…he was a judge
• Added the “w” to dissociate from relatives
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Works part of Romantic Movement
• Themes are inherent evil and sin of humanity
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The Scarlet Letter
• Can be considered a “love story”
• Themes about the subjects of Puritans, sin, guilt, and the human conflict between emotions and intellect
• Allegorical
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Allegory• A story where characters,
objects, and events have a hidden meaning and are used to present some universal lesson
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“The Custom House”
1. Outlines biographical info. about the author
~worked at a Custom House b/c needed job security
~this job stifles his creativity and imagination
~provides discussion of his ancestors calling them “grave…bitter persecutors” whose “better deeds will be diminished by their bad ones.”
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2. Defines the romance novel, particularly the psychological romance novel
~Psychological romance---techniques of romance (use of light and setting), but add deep, probing portraits of human beings in conflict with themselves
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3. Authenticates the basis of the novel by explaining the discovery of a scarlet A in parchment paper in the Custom House~Gives the story an air of historical truth~no real evidence this is true.
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4. Highlights conflicting values/ideology of past and present
~Puritanism consumed by commercialism and financial interests of 1700s
~ “the Old General” contrasted sharply to the new workers in the Custom House
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