Young Goodman Brown Transcendentalism

The Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was and still is one of the most influential writers of all time. Although Hawthorne is often recognized for his successful novel, The Scarlet Letter, he became noticed for his excellence in short stories. One of the most commonly mentioned is “Young Goodman Brown” published in 1835, fifteen years earlier than The Scarlet Letter. Blending isolation and sin, “Young Goodman Brown” displays a theme of sin and felt the isolation from others after confessing the sin. Hawthorne’s writings show characteristics of the Transcendentalist period as he often writes about religion and sin. Transcendentalists strongly believe in self-reliance and individualism. The writers in this period rely on the belief that intuition leads people …show more content…
Religion is the number one topic in the transcendentalist period. Transcendentalism is wanting the internal desire for something. To seek the beauty in life and in nature while believing in true love and contentment is still shown today in literature. Characters also face the harsh reality of the world by being torn apart by love or death. There is a dark side to Hawthorne’s writings that make him fall into the gothic type of literature. These characteristics often include notations to sin, pain, and a presence of evil. Some people like to read the dark side of writings where the good side does not always win. This gives the literature a sense of reality because the good guy will not always come out victorious. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. At a young age, Hawthorne grew up in a strict Puritan family. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825, Hawthorne returned to his Salem home and began writing. However, first starting out, his writing received very little public recognition. From little recognition, he was unable to sustain a stable salary, so he got a job in the Boston customhouse in 1839 (Hawthorne, Nathaniel, n.p.). However, two