Sample Student #1
Mrs. Small

English II - Period 4
08 October 2013

A Glimpse of the World: Isolation

Imagine one walking down a dark forest in the middle of the night. The wind lightly blows through the trees and an ominous path lies ahead, no one around for miles. Picture walking down the street, children staring and being hushed by their mothers and all eyes are on oneself; a social outcast walking in broad daylight. These situations are typical of Nathanial Hawthorne’s writing. Hawthorne, an anti-transcendentalist, views the world in a dark and pessimistic way. His various philosophical beliefs trickle into his writing, creating brooding tales of conformity and loneliness. As a result of his implementation of depressing mood, eerie imagery, and social beliefs, Hawthorne’s view of humanity is apparent. Because of Hawthorne’s cynical view of the world, he believes men are destined to live isolated and alienated lives; this is represented by characters in both his stories living and eventually dying alone.
Hawthorne views the world much more realistically than the transcendentalists, believing men are destined one way or another to end up alone. This belief is reflected in “The Minister’s Black Veil”, where the minister Mr. Hooper is outcast solely based on his appearance and unrelenting resolve to not change. On his deathbed, after years of alienation from his town, he states, “‘Whydoyou tremble at me alone?’ cried he, turning his veiled face round the circle of pale spectators. ‘Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!’”(Hawthorne 882). This quote represents Hawthorne’s idea that people in society only judge based on appearances, and anyone drastically outside social norms is cast out. Mr. Hooper resents this fact and states that it is pointless for people to solely judge on appearances, since everyone has secrets that are kept from people. People do not judge one another for their secrets, for part of who humans are, yet judgment is easily made on the superficial outward appearance of a person. Mr. Hooper lived the majority of life with a Black Veil on his face, and lived alone because of it. Just because of a physical appearance, this man was pushed away by everyone who once respected him. Hawthorne believes this is true for all of society, which the outward look of a person is reason enough for them to be cast out and alienated for the rest of his life.
Hawthorne’s other story “Young Goodman Brown” if full of loneliness and self alienation. After being left alone in a forest by the devil, Goodman Brown begins to hear voices in the sky, including his wife Faith. He deems this cloud as evil and exclaims “‘My Faith is gone!’ cried he, after one stupefied moment. “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given’” (Hawthorne 5). Here Goodman Brown enters a state of complete despair. He feels his wife is gone and with it his faith in religion. Hawthorne uses the idea of faith multiple ways; when Goodman Brown says Faith is gone he is referring to the fact that he believes his wife is gone, but also that he has been cut off from god. This creates a state of both literal and metaphorical isolation that leaves Goodman Brown dazed and unsure about how to proceed. Hawthorne believes in listening to a higher authority or power, as opposed to free thinking. Here it is shown that when one is unable to have a communication with god one is left stranded and confused. Furthermore, this confusion is part of what leads to mans’ inevitable state of being ultimately alone in life.
The isolation Hawthorne believes to be true is not always external; sometimes one pushes everyone else away as opposed to being cast out themselves. At the end of Young Goodman Brown, he returns to the town and views everyone differently than before. The story then fast forwards to the end of his life, saying “[Brown] had lived long, and was borne to his grave a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom”(Hawthorne 8). Goodman Brown, traumatized after his experience in the forest, shuts everyone out of his life, believing them to be evil. This quote emphasizes the fact that he places himself in self imposed exile, and even in death “no hopeful verse” was on his tombstone. This means he still has no hope that people are good and has adamantly held his opinion of human evil until the end. He lives his entire life feeling uncomfortable with society and this alienation is a part of him until his last moments. Hawthorne makes this fact ironic by stating that he is a Goodman and is respected in the church, implying that even the best of men are doomed to the same fate. Hawthorne is adamant that, whether a pagan or a Goodman, all of the humans on Earth are destined to be alone one way or another.
Nathanial Hawthorne saw the world in a very cynical way, a view that was reflected throughout all his works. Hawthorne was a scholar, philosopher, and above all a writer. His beliefs about the way humans live and the general nature of humanity is gloomy, but realistic at the same time. These opinions transcend both his stories, and are something all his characters have in common. In a way, it makes one think if maybe Hawthorne himself felt isolated in life, alienated by his own species. Whether it is Mr. Hooper the minister or Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne shows it is not difficult to find oneself cut off from society. Although it is a negative thought, it is a struggle everyone faces. All humans are part of a society that stands as one, but in the end begin to fray and fall apart.

Sample Student #2
Mrs. Small
English II Pd. 4
10 October 2013

A World of Sin: Hawthorne’s View on the Human Condition

Nathaniel Hawthorne, a brilliant writer in the nineteenth century, had an interesting take on the human condition during his span of life and presented these theories in some of his works. Many people during this time were extremely religious and believed there was a piece of god in everyone, displaying the transcendentalist beliefs. Hawthorne, on the other hand, displayed in many of his narratives, specifically The Minister’s Black Veil and Young Goodman Brown, that he had developed a more unpopular view of people that consisted of everyone being a sinner. Both Goodman Brown and Father Hooper from the aforementioned stories display Hawthorne’s belief that society is evil through their actions and symbolism of objects such as the black veil; this supports the anti-transcendentalist belief that states all men are sinners and have an inherent evil within them. After the original moment of disillusionment, these characters become isolated and quite lonely, once again showing the dark side of mankind that Hawthorne tries to represent in his short stories.

In The Minister’s Black Veil, father Hooper displays an odd act of non-conformity that many people in his town are not accustomed to, and they believe may be sinful, while it was actually a way to show their sins. One day, he decides to wear a black veil, similar to the kind that would be appropriate for women to wear, but only on the date of a funeral. The instant reaction of the townsfolk shows up front how judgmental the average person is and how this society denied the idea of non-conformity. One member from the town, named Goodman Gray, even stated, “Our parson has gone mad!” when he first saw him walk by for simply wearing an extra garment of clothing (Hawthorne 873). As Hooper began to preach his ideas in church, people started to avoid him more and more until he sunk into a deep depression, where even his loving wife left him. Hawthorne is presenting the way the he believes society would act in this situation, and from his standpoint, he thinks a husband who wears an odd piece of clothing could break up a marriage. In this case, it could even be argued that father Hooper is evil for wearing the veil in the first place. He is causing all of the other townspeople confusion and anger, yet by just removing the mask or telling others why he is doing it would cure this. This story also uses heavy amounts of symbolism throughout with the idea of the mask representing the sin that is contained within every human on Earth. This could be the reason that many of the townspeople were taken aback by the veil; they saw it as Hooper openly admitting to some dastardly sin, even if they all had one similar to it within themselves. To confirm this idea of universal sin within every man Hooper even states at the end of the story, “I look around me, and, lo! On every visage a Black Veil” (Hawthorne 882). If the veil is still being referred to as a symbol for sin, then this obviously shows how Hooper believes everyone has some sin within them, reflecting the beliefs of Hawthorne very clearly. Hawthorne has a knack for showing himself in his characters and in The Minister’s Black Veil, Father Hooper is representing the anti-transcendentalist ideas of conformity in society and all men being sinners that Hawthorne believes in and shows in more than one of his short stories.

Young Goodman Brown is another short story full of metaphors that shows Hawthorne’s ideas of anti-transcendentalism even more thoroughly than the previous piece. This story follows a man, recently married, through a rollercoaster ride of events that test his faith in a plethora of ways. Early on, it is shown that he is a happy young with a very strong conviction in his religious beliefs, but quickly he finds himself on a path through the woods on the way to meet someone and perform an unknown task. As the story continues, it is discovered that the mysterious man he is meeting is actually the devil and they are on their way to a dark ceremony; the motive is unknown. Hawthorne discreetly shows how an average young man like Goodman Brown could have such an evil within him. Unlike the other story where Hooper only committed a sin, Brown is associating with the devil to be converted from Christianity into an evil cult. Through his travels in the woods, Brown comes across the woman who taught him his religion and his deacon, who are also on their way to this ceremony. Just the sight of these characters in such an evil environment is an interesting concept that can lead one to believe that all men have some type of sin within them, even these popular religious figures in the town. After his encounter with Deacon Gookin, Goodman Brown still decides to “stand firm against the devil,” but he then witnesses his wife’s pink ribbons falling from the sky, symbolizing her transfer from good to evil (Hawthorne 4). Brown goes into a rage and ends up denouncing his religion after seeing the sins that all men and woman commit constantly and exclaims, “There is no good on Earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given” (Hawthorne 5). The “sin is but a name” comment could be translated to mean that sin is no longer important because all people engage in it. Just like the Hooper in the other story, Brown can be seen as committing sin himself for even being out in the woods in the first place, further supporting the idea that all men sin. Not to mention, Hawthorne could be showing himself as this character as a way of admitting that he, along with the rest of society, sins regularly. Young Goodman Brown is a great example of Hawthorne’s beliefs and shows the loneliness and isolation that follows the discovery that every man is a sinner.

In both of the stories previously mentioned, Hawthorne shows the main character fall into a deep depression by the end of the story. Goodman Brown ends up avoiding everybody in the town due to his dream/reality encounter with them in the forest, while from the beginning of the story, father Hooper is being shunned from society. Hawthorne is displaying how accepting the realistic idea that everybody has some type of sin within them is a hard thing for the common man. It seems that at one point, Hawthorne made this realization and felt the same kind of feelings, convincing him to write these dark-themed short stories. It is also apparent that both the veil and the dream are both metaphors for this discovery the characters are making. It can be easily noticed that these were both portrayed as being evil; the veil showed this subtly by just being a dark color, but the forest in Young Goodman Brown shows a highly exaggerated form of the gloom of this discovery. Not to mention, both of the characters take this dark feeling to death with them, and that is how they are remembered in their societies. This represents the profound impact these events have on their lives and the lives of people around them. It was even said at the end of Young Goodman Brown that “…they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne 8). Hawthorne points out the effects of assuming the belief that all men are evil, but he presents it in a way that makes it seem like a necessary realization that all men will come to at one point in their lives.

Hawthorne was a very bright mind in his time and used his intelligence to share his message through the dark stories he wrote. In both, Young Goodman Brown and The Minister’s Black Veil, he intends to get across the idea that all men are sinners. This idea corresponds with Jon Edwards’ work known as Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God where he claims all men are evil and God is aware of this (Jon Edwards was a famous preacher during the “Great Awakening” in America). Hawthorne’s beliefs are very similar and are very religion-centered; he mentions god in both of the stories plenty of times. Backed by this belief, Hawthorne has a very dark depiction of the society that he lived in and the human condition of the people within this environment. He puts himself in the main characters of the story and displays the way he feels about society through their actions and beliefs. By the end of the stories, both Brown and Hooper have a terribly negative outlook on life, corresponding with Hawthorne’s apparent emotions. Hawthorne developed an extremely gloomy idea that all men are sinners and that the nature of society is deteriorating every day.

Sample Student #3

Mrs. Small

English II-Period 4

10 October 2013

The Human Condition of Nathanial Hawthorne

Nathanial Hawthorne was a pessimistic and negative author who believed that humans were evil, iniquitous creatures that lived a life of sin. Instead of portraying his characters as happy people full of integrity, they were exemplified as people who committed acts of evil and lived a life full of guilt and punishment. He believed in the ideals known as the Anti-Transcendentalist movement. The Anti-Transcendentalist movement was when men were thought to be sinners and conformed to the ways of society. This philosophy was very clear in his works as characters were alienated and isolated. Hawthorne caused his characters in both “Young Goodman Brown”and “The Minister’s Black Veil” to lose faith and become neurotic, which showed his outlook on life.

In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Hawthorne described Parson Hooper, who was a reverend in his town’s church and eventually became isolated from the community. When there was a black veil worn on his face, the town immediately noticed and cast him out, making him alienated. During a service in the story, Hooper approached the altar to pay his respects at a funeral. When he turned and faced the townspeople, he realized how horrified they were of the veil. “Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful of a sight to the minister, as the black veil to them (Hawthorne 874).” Hawthorne used visual imagery to vividly describe the colorless, devastated faces of the congregation when they saw the evil that had been placed on their reverend’s face. This imagery is also used to express Hooper’s bewildered face when he saw how the congregation reacted to the veil. The picture painted by Hawthorne is directly associated with Anti-Transcendentalism because it referred to how Mr. Hooper had been separated from the rest of the townspeople. It is evident that Hawthorne believed in the Anti-Transcendentalist ideals because of how he wrote about Mr. Parson Hooper; he is isolated and viewed as an outcast from the rest of the town.