1. Nathaniel Hawthorne1804-1864

2.  Born in Salem, Mass. on July 4, 1804  His father, a sea captain, died when he was four  His great-grandfather was a judge for the witchcraft trials in Salem  His young life was spent living in a relative’s home, which he later called “Castle Dismal.”  1821-1825: attended Bowdoin College; he became friends with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce

4.  1828: Published Fanshawe, a book that he later hated. So, he tried to buy and burn all of the copies.  1837: Published Twice Told Tales, which stared his career.  1839-1840: Worked at Boston Custom House (position as a measurer of salt and coal).  Brook Farm is established (a utopian community in West Roxbury, Masschusetts).  Founded by a member of the Transcendental Club; it was an experiment in “communal living” (socialism).

6.  1842: Married Sophia Peabody  1846: Published Mosses from The Old Manse (a book of short stories that he wrote while living in his house, The Old Manse)  1846-1849: Worked at The Salem Custom House. However, he was fired after political change.  The Custom House is a place where people document goods for importing and exporting.

7. Salem Custom House

8. The Old Manse House

9.  1850: Published The Scarlet Letter, which is the height of his career.  1851: Published The House of the Seven Gables  1852: Published The Blithedale Romance (setting is a Brook Farm- type place)

11.  1853: Appointed by then President Franklin Pierce to be Consul to Liverpool in England. Hawthorne and his family move to England and remained in Europe until 1860.  1860: Hawthorne and his family move back to Concord, Mass.  1860: Published The Marble Faun.

13.  1864: Died in his sleep  Franklin Pierce was one of his pallbearers  Buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts. The particular area he is buried is called “Author’s Ridge”  Herman Melville dedicated Moby Dick to Hawthorne.

17. Custom House  Narrator is working at the Custom House.  Based on some of Hawthorne’s own experience as a surveyor  Much controversy because of it’s an unflattering portrayal of Salem and its residents.  Comes across documents and an embroidered scarlet letter A.  The documents contain the story of Hester Prynne, as documented by a man named Jonathan Pue, who researched history from the seventeenth century.  200 years before the narrator’s

18. The Custom House  The narrator wants to write out the narrative to Hester Prynne’s life; however, has writer’s block.  Wonders what his Puritan ancestors would say about a career in writing. Thinks they would find it frivolous.  The narrator gets fired from his job because of political changes, which motivates him to write the narrative for Hester Prynne- thus The Scarlet Letter.

19. Dramatic Plot Exposition Rising Action Climax Falling Action Resolution/D enouement

20. http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/Life&Times/Introduction.html For more information: