Unit 3: Project

Edwine Larrieux

Anyone familiar with Nathaniel Hawthorne is well aware of his characteristic use of symbolic imagery in his stories, which are generally about the contradictory good and evil sides of humanity.  Young Goodman Brown does not disappoint. Read at face value, Young Goodman Brown is a story about a Puritan settler living in Salem during the witch trials.  This settler attends a witch’s meeting in the forest that forever changes him.

Goodman/Forest

Whether the meeting was real or contrived is of little consequence, as the occurrence was real enough to Goodman Brown to alter his entire existence. But when looked at closer, an all too familiar truth can be seen in this eerie tale. The symbolism begins with the paradox that is Goodman Brown’s new wife, Faith.  Her name alone is cause for attention.  Each time Goodman Brown refers to her, it is only too clear that he may in fact be referring to his own personal faith in God, life, and humanity, which is questioned to the point of breaking in this narrative.

In fact, it seems that Faith is not even a character, so to speak. Rather, she is a tangible symbol of Goodman Brown’s faith and the changes that it endures when Goodman Brown loses his childhood innocence.  With his use of symbolism to enhance the story, Hawthorne brings to life the struggles of faith and life during the puritan times when ignorance is not always bliss.

Normal vs. Evil

He opens Goodman’s eyes and uses the natural sinisterness of the dark forest to enhance the evil of the witches and what Goodman is experiences. Although we are never sure whether or not the witch meeting took place, we feel as though it has and take away a large amount of fear and anxiety right along with Goodman.

Richard Saxton

• Escaped to nature to avoid his over-bearing wife

• Did not attempt to exert control over nature but allowed nature to influence him

• Fell asleep and awoke to a new country

• Irving woke to find himself a grandfather, which enforced his already easy-going nature

Rip Van Winkle’s Return

Juan Suarez

Natures’ influence on Emerson’s writing is key to his style. Ralph Waldo Emerson writes about truth, beauty, and man’s over soul, through nature as being a type of “middle-man”. How he writes about the vastness of the universe and the earth, he uses nature as both a literal and symbolic meaning.

It’s most apparent with nature’s influence on his writing when he writes his story about “nature” and divides it into 8 seperate sub categories. Nature is also apparent in his writing when he expresses his religious views and describes it under symbolic meaning on nature. 

Richard Delancy

In modern days, we call an unknown persona an “Alter-Ego” —- for writers and Early-American authors, some may take on a “Pen-Name” (same difference) in my opinion.   Sara Willis Parton soon became forgotten by family & friends by her birth name and became popularly known as Fanny Fern.

Disgracing her family with vulgar, humorous and satirical works —- due to the fact she was advised to make shirts and complete more domesticated duties; Fern discovered her passion for writing creating pieces particularly offensive to men with good reason.  Ultimately this became her biggest challenge – due to the lack of support from sexist male writers who widely spearheaded the news publications during the middle 19^th Century. In due time, Fern would prove a woman’s nature in the field of writing, was of paramount importance for all at this time.

Fern was originally deemed a “Sentimentalist” for inane works BUT – after honing her writing skills she balanced more conscious topics that related directly to society and how wrongly men ‘naturally’ perceived women.  Facing harsh criticism from men as being a lesser equal – as a writer; Fern eventually stood her ground tackling the social & economic conditions like none other.  

Opening up the ‘atmosphere’ for female writers — that no topic was “gender-specific” or (traditionally) off limits; Fanny Fern became notorious after publishing Ruth Hall (novel) and other stories such as The Working-Girls of New York & Soliquay of a Housemaid.

Boosting the confidence of women and once and for all laying the followers of senseless bigotry — like her father and NY Times critics alike to rest — Fanny Fern – Columnist/ Feminist represents the best of feminine literature and/or ‘Ladies Books’ as critics once referred to them.

Peter Montalbano

Edgar Allen Poe, a man who used some of the most amazing, unbelievably creative, awesome, fantastic and cool adjectives to write his stories, is much beloved by the literary community. If asked to describe Poe’s writing style, the term “gothic” would be the first words that came to mind.

Poe may not have spent a lot of time describing nature in his stories, but the settings are a subtle undertone of darkness that enhances the gothic nature of the story. In Ligeia Poe uses the bedchamber as a way of describing what death feels like and how it can affect a setting.

In The Fall of the House of Usher Poe immediately immerses us in a time where there is gloom, the story begins with “…dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year….”. Nature may not play a prevalent role in these tales, but it is definitely woven into them and helps to create a dark feeling throughout the stories.

Susan Stoiber

H. D. Thoreau desired to simplify his lifestyle; therefore, he visited Walden Pond several times within a two year period in order to “live off of the land.” His compilation of nature essays focus on his experience of daily life at Walden Pond including his self-sufficiency and his disdain for the modern lifestyle.

He explains how nature renews one’s soul, and how one only needs the bare minimum for survival. Modern conveniences are destroying the purity of nature, and Thoreau observes how nature now bears the marks of man’s touch such as the railroads that cut through the land and the ice pickers on the pond.

In Walden Thoreau writes, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

He seems to equate the dependence on modern conveniences to a form of slavery — we are slaves to these conveniences.

Thoreau’s Cabin