Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts.At the age of four, Hawthorne's father die of yellow fever in Suriname, and was raised by his mother only from that point forward. With financial aid from his uncle, and against his own protests, Hawthorne enrolled at Bowdoin College. At this point in time, Hawthorne knew he wanted to become an author, rejecting the professions of doctors and lawyers as people who benefit from the illness and arguments of others.At college, Hawthorne met many lifelong friends, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a poet; Horatio Bridge, a future naval commander; and Franklin Pierce, future president of the United States. Although only an average student with little love for schooling, Hawthorne was an avid reader and writer, despite his quite minor education in modern literature. After college, he spent much of his time in his local library, and through research of his family history came to learn that he was descended from Puritans such as William Bradford and John Winthrop.His struggles with his Puritan history, as well as his observations of personal conflicts of the time inspired him to write about injustice and the Puritans. Although he was often around Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, he viewed the world with a darker perspective than them, thanks to his Puritan history and rough up-bringing. The influence of the Romantics is also visible in Hawthorne's work; his detailed imagery focuses on aesthetic rather than realism. Also, his focus on individuals and the strong emotions they feel during his novel "The Scarlet Letter" is indicative of Romanticism, as is his focus on topics from a distant place and time, and his rejection of society.
The Puritans were a Christian denomination that left England for the New World to escape persecution. The Puritans were very severe, living with the bible as their guide and no frivolous items. The sense of community was strong, and the community groups helped keep each other on the path to righteousness through careful watching, as they believed the devil was behind every evil deed. This severity, as well as the fact that he had Puritan heritage, led Hawthorne to focus on Puritans in his writing. In order to examine hypocrisy in his own time, Hawthorne looked back to the judgmental and extreme Puritans as a canvas.
The Puritans were a Christian denomination that left England for the New World to escape persecution. The Puritans were very severe, living with the bible as their guide and no frivolous items. The sense of community was strong, and the community groups helped keep each other on the path to righteousness through careful watching, as they believed the devil was behind every evil deed. This severity, as well as the fact that he had Puritan heritage, led Hawthorne to focus on Puritans in his writing. In order to examine hypocrisy in his own time, Hawthorne looked back to the judgmental and extreme Puritans as a canvas.