By: Chad, Nicolette, and
Christian
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in
1804.
His family descended from the earliest settlers of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
(Hawthorne added the “w” to his name when he began to break
off from relatives including John Hathorne, a judge during the
Salem Witch Trials)
Throughout his life, Hawthorne was both fascinated and
disturbed by his kinship with his ancestor John Hathorne.
Raised by a widowed mother, Hawthorne attended Bowdoin
College in Maine, where he met two people who were to
have great impact upon his life: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who would later become a famous poet, and
Franklin Pierce, who would later become president of
the United States.
The popular written stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne
A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys
Doctor Grimshawe’s Secret Fanshawe
From The Snow Image
Journal of an African Cruiser
Septimius Felton.
Tanglewood Tales
The Blithedale Romance
The Great Stone and Other Tales of the White Mountains
The House of the Seven Gables
The Marble Faun
The Scarlet Letter
Twice Told Tales Volume 1
Twice Told Tales Volume 2
Whole History of Grandfather's Chair
Young Goodman Brown
• Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, N.H.
on a trip to the mountains with his friend Franklin
Pierce. After his death, Sophia Hawthorne (his wife)
edited and published his notebooks. Modern
editions of these works include many of the sections
which she cut out or altered.
• The Hawthorne's son Julian was convicted in 1912 of
defrauding the public.
setting (time& place) · Middle of the seventeenth century in Boston, Massachusetts
protagonist · Hester Prynne
major conflict · Her husband having failed to join her in Boston following their emigration
from Europe, Hester Prynne engages in an extramarital affair with Arthur Dimmesdale.
When she gives birth to a child, Hester begs the her community—a condemnation
they manifest by forcing her to wear a letter “A” for “adulterer”—as well as the
vengeful wrath of her husband, who has appeared just in time to witness her public
shaming.
•
rising action · Dimmesdale stands by while Hester suffers for the sin he committed,
though his conscience plagues him and affects his health. Hester’s husband,
Chillingworth, hides his true identity and, posing as a doctor to the minister, tests his
suspicions that Dimmesdale is the father of his wife’s child, effectively increasing
Dimondale's feelings of shame and thus reaping revenge.
climax · There are at least two points in but one that seemed more appropriate The
Scarlet Letter that could be considered the book’s “climax.” The first is in Chapter
12, at the exact center of the book. As Dimmesdale watches a meteor trace a letter
“A” in the sky, he confronts his role in Hester’s sin and realizes that he can no longer
deny his deed and its consequences. The key characters confront one another when
Hester and Pearl join Dimmesdale in an “electric chain” as he holds his duty on the
marketplace scaffold, the location of Hester’s original public shaming..
falling action · Depending on one’s interpretation of which scene constitutes the
book’s “climax,” the falling action is either the course of events that follow Chapter
12 or the final reports on Hester’s and Pearl’s lives after the deaths of Dimmesdale
and Chillingworth.
The scarlet letter was an extremely difficult
book to read. Although I can give you a few
pros and cons about the book.
The narrator is wise, because he knows the
characters and tells the story in a way that
shows that he knows more about the
characters than they know about themselves.
Yet, he is also a personal narrator, because he
voices his own judgments and opinions of
things. He is clearly sympathetic to Hester
and Dimmesdale.
•
The novel is set in the mid-19th century, with glimpses into the history of the house,
which was built in the late 17th century. The main interest of this book is in the
subtle and involved descriptions of characters and motives.
•
The house of the title is a gloomy New England mansion, haunted from its foundation
by dishonorable dealings, accusations of witchcraft, and sudden death. The current
resident, the poor Hepzibah Pyncheon, opens a shop in a side room to support her
brother Clifford, who is about to leave prison after serving thirty years for murder.
She refuses all the assistance from her rude cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. The
pretty and young Phoebe turns up and quickly becomes helpful, awakening Clifford
from depression.
• Judge Pyncheon arrives at the house one day, and threatens to have Clifford
committed to an insane asylum if Clifford does not comply with the Judge in giving
him the information the Judge believes Clifford has. However, before Clifford can be
brought before the Judge, the Judge mysteriously dies in the same chair as the
historical Pyncheon who stole the land from Maule. Hepzibah and Clifford escape on a
train after the Judge dies. Events from past and present good news on the
circumstances which sent Clifford to prison, proving his innocence. The romance ends
with the characters leaving the old house to start a new life, free of the burdens of
the past.
• My own personal critique on House of
Seven Gables is that it was very
difficult to understand and
comprehend, there was a lot of hard
names to pronounce. Although it had a
good story line, I would not
recommend it to any normal 16/17 year
old.
A Wonder Book For Girls and Boys
This book was published in 1852 and has a lot of ancient
Greek myths. This is one story with the narrator, Eustace
Bright, telling the stories.
This Book is filled with myths such as:
-The Gorgon’s Head: A hero named Perseus slayed Medusa, a
gorgan, and was a son of Zues.
-The Golden Touch: a King named Midas who wished everything he
touched turned to gold. His wish came true.
-The Miraculous Pitcher: Baucis and Philemon were an old couple
and Zues and Hermes came to them in disguise as peasants and they
greeted them with gratitude and Zues gave them a temple to live in and
when they died they were turned into intertwined trees.
-The Chimæra: Bellerophon was a hero before Hercules and was
known as the hero who slayed a Chimæra which is said to have a lion’s
head, goat body, and a serpents tail.
Christian’s Critique
• I thought this book was
very interesting and
was a decent read
because they had a lot
of words I understood.
• Plus I like Greek
mythology so I liked the
book a lot and would
recommend it to my
friends.
The End!!!!!!!