Nathaniel Hawthorne :: essays research papers

Nathaniel Hawthorne The 19th century had many great achievements happen within its 100-year time period. From the building of the Erie Canal, to the steel lot being invented. From the invention of the telegraph, to Thomas Edison creating the first light bulb. While all of these inventions hurt stood the test of time, one has lasted just as long the inspiring tales a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. His name by birth was Nathaniel Hawthorne. He added the w to his name when he began to sign his stories. ("Nathaniel Hawthorne" American Writers II) One of Hawthornes ancestors was actually a judge in the Salem witch trials. The guilt and shame Hawthorne felt of his ancestors were included in some of his stories. (McGraw Hill, pg.67) Hawthornes father was a sea captain. He died of fever when Hawthorne was only four. Shortly after his fathers death, his mother was forced to move her three children into her susta ins home and then into her brothers home in Maine. Hawthornes childhood was not particularly abnormal, as many famous authors have claimed to have. Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College and graduated after four years. After graduation, he returned to Salem. Contrary to his familys expectations, Hawthorne did not begin to read law or enter business, earlier he moved into his mothers house to turn himself into a writer. Hawthorne wrote his mother, "I do not want to be a doctor and personify by mens diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So, I dont study that there is anything left for me but to be an author." (" American Writers II, pg. 227) For the next twelve years Hawthorne lived in his mothers house. He Seldemly went out except new-fashioned at night, or when going to another city. " I had read endlessly all sorts of good and good for nothing books, and in dearth of other employment, had beforehand(predicate) begu n to scribble sketches and stories, most of which I burned." Reflected Hawthorne. (McGraw Hill, pg.68) Hawthornes first novel, Fanshawe, was published anonymously in 1828 at his own expense. Because of a lack of sales, Hawthorne recalled every copy he could find of the book and destroyed them. When a local printer delayed publishing his Seven Tales of My Native Land, Hawthorne withdrew the manuscript and burned it " in a irritability half-savage, half-despairing.