Author BackgroundSalem Home/"Castle Dismal" Bowdoin College
Site of former U.S. Consulate in Liverpool, England
Hawthorne reading to his family--Julian, Una, Rose, and wife Sophia.
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Hawthorne's Early Years 1. When and where was he born? 2. What happened there in 1692? 3. How was Hawthorne connected to those events? His Youth 1. What happened to Nathaniel's Father? 2. What happened to Nathaniel while playing ball? 3. What "cure" was employed? 4. What did Nathaniel begin doing during his convalescence that may have impacted his writing? 5. What college did he attend? 6. What famous friends did he meet there? 7. What almost got him suspended from college? After College 1. Who was Sophia Peabody? 2. Where did the Hawthorne's live in Concord and from whom did they rent the house? 3. What position did Hawthorne accept in 1846? What is the name of the introductory story of The Scarlet Letter? Brook Farm Hawthorne lived in the same time and in the same area as a group known as the Transcendentalists. Although his own experience was rooted in the Calvinism of his ancestors, as we see in his writings, he briefly engaged in the pursuits of a group of intellectuals. 1. Why did Hawthorne have to leave his job at the Boston Customs House in 1841? 2. Why might he have joined the commune, when he wasn't much of a joiner of anything else? 3. What high hopes did he have for Brook Farm? 4. What novel grew out of his experiences (in spite of his protestations to the contrary!)? 5. What reasons did Hawthorne have for leaving Brook Farm? 6. This website mentions "mesmerist." What is a mesmerist, what role did one play in Sophia's life, and why did Hawthorne oppose the idea? Later Years 1. Whom did Hawthorne meet in 1850? 2. Where did the Hawthornes move in 1853 and why? 3. Where did Hawthorne die, and whom was he with? |