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Any Nathaniel Hawthorne Fans?

PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2005 6:54 am
by Angel37
I am!!! I LOVED The Scarlet Letter and I'm currently reading The House of Seven Gables. I just LOVE his writing style and his stories and views of Puritanism. Anyone else have any comments on him?
<3 Angel

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2005 4:14 pm
by Petite Soeur
Angel37 wrote:I am!!! I LOVED The Scarlet Letter and I'm currently reading The House of Seven Gables. I just LOVE his writing style and his stories and views of Puritanism. Anyone else have any comments on him?
<3 Angel


Yes, I am a fan. I read The Scarlet Letter last year in CP/Honors English II (sophomore advanced English). This year, I read The Minister's Black Veil in CP/Honors English III (junior advanced English). I loved the symbolism omnipresent in his works. These are my absolute favorite symbols:

1) Pearl- an absolute ironic name for a child born out of an adulterous relationship]The Minister's Black Veil[/I] is symbolic of secret, unconfessed sin and is worn constantly by the minister. This outward symbol frightens his congregation, as if he knows something about their secret sin that they had not revealed to him. However, the veil is worn by the minister because of his own secret sin. Hawthorne uses the veil to represent the ugliness and distraction of sin.

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2005 11:05 pm
by kirakira
Mmm, not so much. ^_^; I haven't read any Hawthorne since second semester Humanities class last year (We indulged in 'The House of the Seven Gables'). I do recall, however, that I found his style dry and abraisive. I mean, it's totally better than anything I've ever written, but I just didn't enjoy it. Takes all kinds to make a world, eh? ^_^

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2005 11:29 pm
by K. Ayato
I tried to read The Scarlet Letter. I don't believe I was even halfway through the book when I got bored and stopped.

PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2005 9:31 am
by TallasLint
I've read The Scarlet Letter, which was actually pretty good, I though. Pearl was definitely my favorite character. We also read "The Minister's Black Veil" in my English class, but I didn't like that one quite as much.

I also read "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", and it has to be one of my favorite short stories in the world (probably only second to Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder").

PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2005 5:06 pm
by Kaori
If anything, I actually enjoyed "The Minister's Black Veil" more than The Scarlet Letter. I haven't read any of his works besides those two, however.

PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2005 8:53 pm
by K. Ayato
Wait. Didn't he also do that one short story about the Celestial Railroad? I read excerpts on that. It was pretty good.

PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2005 5:11 am
by Angel37
My favourite character of the Scarlet Letter had to be Dimmesdale. I'm not sure why, I just felt so attached to him! And the symbols were EXCELLANT! I did a whole project on how he used the contras between light and dark to show the different faces of mankind! So far I love the House of the Seven Gables and I want to read more of his short stories. Anyone know where I can find some?
<3 Angel