106 pages • 3 hours read
Nathaniel HawthorneA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Hawthorne discusses the merits of sharing autobiographical information with his readers and then describes the circumstances he says inspired The Scarlet Letter.
Hawthorne explains that he has always felt drawn to Salem—his birthplace, and the town where his ancestors lived for centuries. When he decided to take a break from writing in 1846, he therefore took a job overseeing the Salem Custom House. He found the work deadening and his colleagues unimaginative and incompetent. He draws particular attention to the “Inspector” and the “Collector”: the former is an elderly but vigorous and cheerful man Hawthorne describes as having “no soul, no heart, no mind; nothing […] but instincts” (20), while the latter is a retired military officer who spends most of his time staring into space. Hawthorne’s account of these and other coworkers is generally good-humored, but he notes that their complacency and amorality might have worn off on him if he had remained at the Custom House.
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ethan Brand
Nathaniel Hawthorne
My Kinsman Major Molineux
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Rappaccini's Daughter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Ambitious Guest
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Artist of the Beautiful
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Birthmark
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Blithedale Romance
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Hollow of the Three Hills
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The House of the Seven Gables
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Marble Faun
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Maypole Of Merry Mount
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Minister's Black Veil
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Wives of the Dead
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Young Goodman Brown
Nathaniel Hawthorne