Nathaniel Hawthorne

The pink ribbon, the scarlet A, real or dream. These are some famous things remembered from Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories. Usually the only works introduced in school. I would venture to say most people polled would say they know The Scarlet Letter. The majority of people have also read and been made to study the short story "Young Goodman Brown". However, there are many more tales by Hawthorne that are just as thought provoking and deep as this one. It is a shame to not look at the other tales as well. Of course there is only so much time in English classes and a lot of literature to teach. But if one is inclined to read more one can start with Twice Told Tales: a collection of 32 short stories. There are also his stories for children (A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales) that retell some memorable classical myths. These collections are all made available through Project Gutenberg of which I have provided links to. Hopefully you will check them out.

When reading his stories I become thoroughly engaged in them. They are full of so much imagery, historical references and allegories. He is very specific in his use of words, colors, names, and time periods. Although he lived in the 19th century he sets many of his stories in the 17th and 18th centuries centering around happenings and periods in America's early history. He is descriptive yet ambiguous at the same time. Some themes Hawthorne delves into are: insanity, common sense, humanity, Puritanism, supernatural, science, and nature. His knowledge and material comes from historical readings, happenings and places along with classical literature (Shakespeare, Dante, the Bible, mythology, etc) and of course influences from his own life and age. 

One short story I recently read was "Earth's Holocaust." To summarize the story humans decide to rid the world of it's "trumpery" in a large fire. The narrator (I believe is Hawthorne) describes what is tossed into the fire and the reaction of the people watching. Everything from riches, crowns, titles, liquor, literature (everything ever written) and much more. Hawthorne ends the story by commenting "to discern and rectify what is wrong, our whole accomplishment will be a dream so unsubstantial that it matters little whether the bonfire, [...] were what we choose to call a real event and a flame that would scorch the finger, or only a phosphoric radiance and a parable of my own brain." The story makes the reader think about the attachment they have to material objects as well as how institutions like church and state influence their life. It is a large allegory. Has the human race reached it's peak of civilization and now has to/must start over? What would you throw into the fire? How would you react to what others see as "trumpery?"

This is just a small look into Hawthorne's writing. He is a beautiful writer that has influenced many. His stories delve into the bad and good of human nature and ask questions that are on both a group and an individual scale. A good book to check out is Nathaniel Hawthorne: the man, his tales, and romances by Edward Wagenknecht. Wagenknecht writes on specific tales and romances in depth. He has done extensive research on other critiques of Hawthorne and his writings. It is a more scholarly read yet Wagenknecht makes the reader interested in reading more of Hawthorne's stories. I would challenge you to pick up The Scarlet Letter again and reread it now many years after you first read it and now that you have lived some. How do the messages in the book read to you now? What other imagery and symbolism do you find now?