THE SCARLET LETTER

Nathaniel Hawthorne WHO WAS NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE?

1804-1864 Born in Salem, Massachusetts only child father died in 1804, while at sea he and his mother moved in with wealthy uncles leg injury kept Nathaniel down for several months, during this time he read as much as possible and decided to become a writer 1821-1825 – attended Bowdoin College met Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Franklin Pierce (14th President) not a great student WHO WAS NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE?

Early ancestor, William Hathorne, first came to America in 1630, settled in Salem, Massachusetts, was a judge known for harsh judgements William’s son John, Hathorne was one of the three judges during the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690s Nathaniel added a “w” to his last name to distance himself from that side of the family WHO WAS NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE?

Met Sophia Peabody a painter illustrator transcendentalist Spent time at Brook Farm community met Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau Married Sophia on July 9, 1842 Settled in Concord, Massachusetts 3 Children SETTING

Books are like boats on a river…

We must look at two parts of the river when learning about the setting of the book. Where the author lives or lived on the river. Where the book takes place along the river. SETTING

Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that was developing by the late 1820s and '30s in the Eastern region of the United States as a protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality. The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School was of particular concern. SETTING

Among the transcendentalists' core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both people and nature. They believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. "Self-reliant" differs from the traditional usage of the word, however, and refers mainly to a fierce intellectual independence that believed itself capable of generating completely original insights with as little deference paid to past masters as possible.” SETTING

Good books challenge us. Good books make us take what we think we know, and force us to think about it in a new way. A really good book will change us, for the better.

The Scarlett Letter is such a book. It will look at guilt, grace, the meaning of the Puritan past on the American present, love and hate, the meaning of suffering, the struggle between freedom and authority, the ironies of love, and holy devotion. SETTING

Written in 1850. The Civil War - 1861-1865. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglas (1845) (slavery) Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) (slavery) Representative Men, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1850) (moral reform and personal perfection) Walden, Henry David Thoreau (1854) (moral reform and personal perfection) Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman (1855) (epic poem) Moby Dick, Herman Melville (1851) (redefined novel) READING HOMEWORK

The Scarlet Letter Supplemental Reading

Forward Words of Delight none Preface Introduction Chapters 1-8 ENGRADE HOMEWORK

none WRITTEN HOMEWORK

List ten pieces of information about the setting that The Scarlet Letter is placed in. Write one to two sentences about each piece of information.