INFORMATION TO KNOW AHEAD:
Setting the Time
- the Puritans by definition felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough and that the Church of England was tolerant of practices which they associated w/ the Catholic Church
- formed into and identified w/ various religious groups advocating greater "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety
- some advocated for separation from all other Christians
Critical Thinking/Understanding
"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth." - Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Custom House"
- people should move about and spread their ideas
- saying we need to allow the children of our next generation to spread their wings; new beginnings; wish not to repeat history; applies to many time periods of history; warning for us to not get stuck in the "old ways/customs" of our ancestors
Nathaniel Hawthorne
- born July 4, 1804
- grandfather was a judge during the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Mass.
- ancestors were some of the first Puritans to settle in New England
Collegues
- influenced greatly by Emerson and Thoreau
- attended college in Brunswick, Maine w/ Franklin Pierce and Henry Waldsworth Longfellow ("Paul Revere's Ride")
- would later write a biography of Pierce
- school he attended had a total of 38 students and 5 faculty members
- wrote stories after college
Writing
- wrote "Custom House" orginially as an independant essay, but later altered it to work with the "Scarlet Letter"
- spent one year (along with other influential writers of the time) at Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community; Brook Farm was a social community aimed for the greater good
- lived in the heart of transcdentalist country (Old Manse in Concord)
- style (of writing) eventually becomes critical of transcendentalism; considered a dark romantic like Poe; dark, gloomy romanticisim
Romanticism vs. Transcendentalism
- Romanticism focused in England; Transcendentalism focused in U.S.
- respect for the sublime elements of nature; references to nature
- feelings favored over thoughts and reason
- movement largely a response to industrialization (science)
- focused on the strong emotions that nature provokes (horror, terror, awe...)
- supernatural focus; enlightenment
Romanticism & Art
- life was colorful, cupricious, and contradictory
- "awful" in literature of the time was equivalent to "awesome" in today's time
- stressed emphasis on the immagination
- exposes individuals failing in their attempts to correct situations
- emphasizes the dark side of man
- view is contradictory to that of transcendentalism
- related to gothic fiction (Note: Mary Shelley's 1818 publication of "Frankenstein" is recognized to have offically started the gothic genre)
Scarlet Letter: Brief Insight
- asks and tries to answer: "Is it better to conform or isolate oneself from society?"
- regarded as one of the finest novels in American history
- Hawthorne's "magnum opus" (his greatest work as a writer)
- a psychological novel
Additionally, I would just like to mention that a large portion of the information I present here is based on notes I have taken in my AP English Language and Composition class (compiled from notes presented by my course teacher, topics discussed in the classroom, and personal interpretation/reasoning). Additional sources used will be cited in the footnotes of each posting.
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