NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Abby Yemm

EARLY LIFE  Nathaniel was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts  Attended Bowdoin College in 1821  He published his first work, Fanshawe, in 1828 Bowdoin College

INSPIRATION  Hawthorne’s uncle was a judge for the Salem Witch Trials  Good friends with Edgar Allan Poe  Believed humans had an evil side rather than good Salem Witch Trials

FAMILY  Married Sophia Peabody on July 9, 1842  Their first, a daughter, Una was born March 3, In 1846, their son Julian was born. Their final child, Rose, was born in May Una and Julian

RISE TO FAME  Hawthorne became a famous and well known writer when he wrote “The Scarlet Letter”  It was a story based on a woman who had a child out of wedlock and is considered to have committed adultery and is forced to wear a red letter A on all of her clothing

DR. HEIDEGGER’S EXPERIMENT  An old man invites four of his friends over for dinner and asks them if they want to partake in an experiment he is conducting  He tells them it involves the Fountain of Youth  He then proves this to them by throwing a 50 year old rose into the jar of water, while the friends watch it bloom  The 3 men and one woman agree to the experiment and drink 3 glasses of water  They slowly grow younger

DR. HEIDEGGER’S EXPERIMENT  As they do, the men begin to fight for the attention of the young woman  They end up knocking the glass over, spilling its contents which in turn makes them grow old again  Greed takes the friends to Florida searching for more of the water while the Doctor sits casually by, realizing that you should not mess with fate

FACTS  One of his stories was based on him finding a little girl drown in the pond in his back yard by her own mother  His last name was originally spelled “Hathorne.” He changed it after graduating from college so that the spelling would more closely match the pronunciation.  His good friend, Herman Melville dedicated his novel Moby Dick to Hawthorne.

DEATH  Nathaniel died on May 19, 1864  Died at the age of 60  Died of bad health in his sleep

OTHER BOOKS BY HAWTHORNE  FANSHAWE, 1828  MY KINSMAN, MAJOR MOLINEUX; ROGER MALVIN'S BURIAL, 1832  YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN, 1835  THE LIFE OF FRANKLIN PIERCE, 1852  TANGLEWOOD TALES FOR GIRLS AND BOYS, 1853  THE MARBLE FAUN, 1860  OUR OLD HOME, 1863

HAWTHORNE