Writing in the mid-19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorn was witness to both the Romantic and Transcendental movements in American Literature; however, while his works reflect many of these elements, he never identified completely with these movements, like most of his contemporaries. His greatest novel was an exploration into the Puritan roots of his ancestry as he explored themes connected to consequences of sin and redemption focused through the psychological aspects of his fictionalized characters.
Consider "The Custom-House," his semi-autobiographical preface to the novel in which he explores the subjects of his distant relatives, the significance of art, his taking of a public office, and his ultimate discovery of the notes that inspired his novel. Discuss, in at least three paragraphs, Hawthorn's primary purpose for writing the Custom House. Composition responses must make three direct quote references as support.
Hawthorne’s introduction; “The Custom-House”, to his book “The Scarlet Letter” is a rather lengthy and detailed one. It gives the reader much insight as to previous events that occurred before the events described in the rest of the Scarlet Letter, thus allowing them to gain a better understanding of what is to come. This is surely one of the reasons that Hawthorne decided to include an intro such as he did. In this introduction, he also recounts some personal events, making it somewhat autobiographical. His reason for doing so is shown when he says “an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life have taken possession of me” (Hawthorne, 10). He wants to share accounts from his own life to the reader to help them understand where he is coming from, his opinions on certain matters, and have a better overall knowledge of him in general.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason that Nathaniel Hawthorne felt the need to include “The Custom-House” introduction in his book is because he knew he had an audience. He felt like letting out those feelings and stories, “It is scarcely decorous, however, to speak all, even where we speak impersonally.” (Hawthorne, 10), and he knew that anyone reading couldn’t tell him not to or that they didn’t want to hear it. They were choosing to read the book, therefore choosing to listen to anything he had to say. He was well aware that he had, in a sense, a captive audience. So he figured he’d share his stories with them while they were there. This is evident in his quote “because…I was happy enough to find a listener or two on the former occasion-I again seize the public by the button, and talk of my three years’ experience in a Custom-House.” (Hawthorne, 10)
So we can easily see Hawthorne’s reasons for including such an introduction as he did. “The Custom-House” is very long and descriptive, but it serves a purpose. It gets the reader familiar with past events that occurred in Hawthorne’s life that may play a role later in the novel. It also gives more insight as to the kind of person that Hawthorne is and why he says and does the things that he does in the novel. Another reason he includes this autobiographical portion is to fulfill his own desire to express his feelings. He makes it known that he felt like expressing himself and does so in order to satisfy this desire. “The Custom-House” thus serves many purposes, some more easily detectable than others.
The Scarlet Letter , " The Custom House", written by Nathaniel Hawthorne has a complexity of first person observations of what was within the society of his Puritan ancestry. After the Introduction about Hawthorne's autobiography, came "The Custom House". "The Custom House" was written to introduce the Scarlet Letter , as well as to depict the autobiography of Hawthorne's experience within the Custom House through a narrative to show a deeper understanding about himself and the Scarlet Letter.
ReplyDeleteBeginning with his introductory of the Scarlet letter, the Custom House had expressed it in an a sense of how the reader had enlightened him with inspiration along with the development of what an author does. For example as it starts off with "It is a little remarkable , that- though disinclined to talk over much of myself and my affairs at the fireside,and to my personal friends - an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life had taken possession of me , in addressing the public. " shows that he's willing to share about his life, even though he is apprehensive about sharing without "violating each the reader's rights or his own" through his autobiography. In belief of " the speaker stand in some true relationship with his audience- it may be pardonable to imagine that a friend, a kind and apprehensive, though not closest friend , is listening to our talk;..." , Hawthorne shows that through the readers, he is grateful that they are there to read his autobiography within the Custom House in order to connect to the Scarlet Letter in it's development through narration .
Further more, Hawthorn had depicted his autobiography through narration to depict a deeper understanding about himself and the Scarlet Letter. In order to show this, he spoke about his life in the Custom House as he made observations of the jubilant men in which surround him, describe that the sophisticated men were stuffing their fill, and created an image of what the Custom House had physically looked like. In order to gain a deeper understanding of it, it's purpose was to serve where the characters had came from and what the setting had looked like in Salem during the 1800's. It served as a gate way in laying out the way a Puritan society of Salem had looked like which leads into the Scarlet letter.
Karla Girón P#4
ReplyDelete-As Nathaniel Hawthorne begins to write the story of The Scarlet Letter, he doesn’t simply give the reader a short introduction and move on. He actually proceeds to write a long introduction, quite a few pages long in fact, which he decided on titling The Custom House. Authors don’t usually add on such an introduction, for they usually have no purpose to do so, unlike Hawthorne who did. His main purpose is to describe to the reader the difficulty of being such a type of writer while introducing the entire story while also using slightly nonfictional details. He shows the reader the struggle he faces between being able to express his art through writing, and actually being able to make a profit out of it. In a way, he allows the reader to see him as a slightly vulnerable; for he lives a difficult life trying to live off of what he loves doing. “This, in fact—a desire to put myself in my true position as editor, or very little more, of the most prolix among the tales that make up my volume—this, and no other, is my true reason for assuming a personal relation with the public.” He even mentions that his need to show his true self is what led to this writing.
-However, most of this beginning’s cause comes from the fact that the reader should be able to visualize the location of this following story. There is a picture painted in the readers’ minds throughout most of the Custom House, for example in, “On some such morning, when three or four vessels happen to have arrived at once usually from Africa or South America—or to be on the verge of their departure thitherward, there is a sound of frequent feet passing briskly up and down the granite steps.” Much figurative language is used in order to form the bustling scene in the mind of the audience. With his explanations of his sentimental attachment to the town, he allows himself to be tied in indirectly with the characters in the book that follows. He describes his position, or the narrator’s position, in this town, along with what his point of view on the town is and why is he there. The details he uses have a tint of creative nonfiction, in which he adds events that have actually happened to him in real life and which he is now using to develop the story.
-Basically, The Custom House introduces the most important parts of the story Hawthorne is about to tell. At the end of this introduction, he begins to show his purpose for writing the book and a slight hint as to what it is about. The writing shows his discovery of the capital letter A, in which he portrays his interest through “It had been intended, there could be no doubt, as an ornamental article of dress... And yet it strangely interested me.” It builds up the suspense as to what the story shall really be about and how will he manage to tell it through his words. There is finally a perfect transition point at this spot, between the introduction and the actual novel. Once he reaches this end, he has finally succeeded in expressing his full purpose.
This section introduces us to the narrator and establishes his desire to contribute to American culture.This introduction provides a frame for the main narrative. The nameless narrator, who shares quite a few traits with the book’s author, takes a post as the “chief executive officer,” or surveyor, of the Salem Custom House. His fellow workers mostly hold lifetime appointments secured by family connections. They are elderly and given to telling the same stories repeatedly. The narrator finds them to be generally incompetent and innocuously corrupt.The narrator finds writing therapeutic. Contrary to his Puritan ancestors’ assertions, he also discovers it to be practical: his introduction provides a cogent discourse on American history and culture.
ReplyDeleteCady Balde
ReplyDeleteP: 3
Scarlett Letter Blog Response:
I deem Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the Custom House out of desperation due to his occupation and pure misery. Hawthorne figured out that he needed to have an income so he worked at the Boston Custom House. During his time there he wrote in a diary which went into great detail about how repetitively awful his work was. One specific quote reveals just how sorrowful he is: "I do think that it is the doom laid upon me of murdering so many of the brightest hours of the day at the Custom-House that makes such havoc with my wits." Hawthorne then goes on explaining how if he could he would stay at home and not have to endure the duties of a monotonous job.
Although Hawthorne finds the Custom House dreary he also finds slight happiness. Usually he measures and weighs goods at the Custom House but on occasional days he gets to go outside to weigh and inspect the cargo. One specific quote reveals his bliss about the outdoors: “Late in the afternoon there was a sunny shower, which came down so like a benediction that it seemed ungrateful to take shelter in the cabin or to put up an umbrella." I believe this brings to light the small happiness Hawthorne writes in the Custom House, although its mostly dreary thoughts he adds in his contentment.
Lastly, I feel as though Hawthorne wrote the Custom House as a way to express his political views. He states in his writing that although he loathes working it will help him with his writing. One quote reveals his thought of this: "On board my salt vessels and colliers there are many things happening, many pictures which in future years, when I am again busy at the loom of fiction, I could weave in; but my fancy is rendered so torpid by my ungenial way of life, that I cannot sketch off the scenes and portraits that interest me, and I am forced to trust them to my memory, with the hope of recalling them at some more favorable period.” This quote exemplifies Hawthorne’s worry about not being proficient enough to remember what happens at his job.
Morgan Malloy
ReplyDeleteOne of Hawthrone's primary purposes would be to exaggerate the difference between art and its meaning. This is portray in Hawthrone's quote of the bald eagles "Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl.. and the general truculency of her attitude. to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens, careful of their safety, against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings." The Bald Eagle is the American symbol for freedom and but in this situation it has a very different message. Although the art is very complex and bold it's meaning is very dark. Instead of freedom it is almost the opposite of fear.
In the Custom House, I think Hawthorne wanted to add some personal insight. I believe he does this when he is talking about how he descended from the original Puritans. " A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in life, -what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation,-may that be? Why the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!' Such are the compliments bandied between my great-grandsires and myself, across the gulf of time!" Hawthorne resists the Puritan values which we can tell by his sarcasm in this quote. He is almost what good will writing do for God, as it is pointless. But there is still that part of him that is almost driven to write.
Another purpose I think Hawthorne wrote the Custom House was to talk about the mind of a human being and how they think. Hawthorne says that what we do is never for ourselves, but for those whom we must impress. "But it is a strange experience, to a man of pride and sensibility, to know that his interests are within control of individuals who neither love nor understand him, and by whom, since one of the other must needs happen, he would rather be injured than obliged. Strange, too, for one who kept his calmness throughout the contest.." Hawthorne's emotions are portrayed deeply in this quote as he also refers to it saying that "there are few uglier traits of human nature than this tendency". He believes that humans can not do what they want as they will always return to the mainstream way of life.
Stanley Ta P.7
ReplyDeleteHawthorne’s primary purpose for writing the Custom House was to establish his experiences that propelled him to write the novel, as well as to draw parallels between Hester Prynne and himself. In the first few pages of the chapter, Hawthorne describes his native home of Salem, including a somewhat symbolic structure of an eagle that presents itself on top of a building. “But she has no great tenderness even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later, - oftener soon than late, - is apt to fling off her nestlings with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows” (3). This hints that Hawthorne may have wanted this novel to become an important work of American literature, perhaps a contribution to American society. He also wrote the Custom House to describe the decay of his native town of Salem, providing us vivid imagery of the transformation of the town.
In addition, Hawthorne wrote the Custom House to define his ancestry and how it hinders his idea of writing the story. Hawthorne explains that he came from Puritans and how his ancestors would disapprove of him being a writer. “A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in life, -what mode of generation, -may that be”(6). The importance of this is that by writing this in the Custom House, Hawthorne sees himself as resisting against the opposition, similar to Hester Prynne resisting against the opposition in the novel. By doing this, Hawthorne implies that he wrote the Custom House chapter to lay the foundation for future parallels that will be seen in the text later on.
Perhaps the most evident of reasons of writing the Custom House was to explain Hawthorne’s motivation for writing the novel. His reoccurring sense of American pride hints us that he wants to express the elements of American history. “It was not merely during the three hours and a half which Uncle Sam claimed as his share of my daily life, that this wretched numbness held possession of me”(24). However, he wants this to be a novel of literature, rather than a history book. As a result, he tells us in the Custom House that he combined a story with aspects of American history.
Ryan Flynn Period 4
ReplyDeleteMany authors include a background about themselves or the book before the novel even starts. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter he does this by including the Custom House. Nathaniel’s purpose for writing this part was to set the outline of the story. He also wanted to show connections to the book and his personal life. If the Custom House was not included people may have not been as intrigued to read the rest of the novel. They also could have become confused if they just jumped right into the book.
One of the primary purposes of writing the custom house was to layout the setting of the book. Nathaniel writes, “In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, in the days of old King Derby was a bustling wharf.” This quote shows the location of the novel which is in Salem. It also shows that the novel is going to take place in early civilization times of America. In the quote, “and was introduced to the corps of gentlemen who were to aid me in my weighty responsibility as chief executive officer of the Custom House,” it depicts what the narrator’s job was. He was the chief executive officer of the Custom House. This quote also shows that it is not an easy task because he needs a whole group of men to help him.
Another primary purpose for Nathaniel Hawthorne writing the Custom House was to show the connections between his life and the book itself. On the first page he writes, “an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life should take possession of me.” This quote shows that the custom House is like Nathaniel’s auto biography of himself. He purposely puts part of his life into the novel, like the setting. The setting is the same because of the location and the time period. Another similarity is the occupation of being the chief executive officer of the custom house. Hawthorne also gets a chance to talk about his relatives, ancestors, and friends where he can pay respect to them through his writings.
To sum up Nathaniel Hawthorne includes the Custom House to set the layout of the story. He depicts the town Salem, and the time period, the days of old King Derby. He also wrote it to show connections between himself and the book, like working as the chief executive officer of the custom house. With the inclusion of the custom house Hawthorne also takes advantage of it to pay respect of to his ancestors and friends. The Custom House also reveals where the name of the novel comes from The Scarlet Letter. If the Custom house was not included then the reader would be somewhat confused and wanting to know more about the setting of the book.
Hawthorn's main purpose in writing "The Custom-house," was to give his account of how he came into writing "The Scarlet Letter." This entire chapter is a plane description of his reason. He states in the second paragraph "that this Custom-house sketch has a certain propriety, of a kind always recognized in literature, as explaining how a large portion of the following pages came into my possession and as offering proofs of the authenticity of a narrative therein contained." This just says that "The Custom House" will be about how he came into the writings so it must be his main purpose.
ReplyDeleteHe also states in a later paragraph "On Hester Prynne's story, therefore, I bestowed much thought. It was the subject of my meditations for many an hour, while pacing to and fro across my room, or traversing, with a hundredfold repetition, the long extent from the front door of the Custom-House to the side entrance, and back again." This shows that he put in some major thought about bringing the letter attached to the peice of cloth to light in a novel. If he did not want to give his story about how he came to write "The Scarlet letter" he would not have included this part of his story.
Last, he states of his hallucinations with "Mr. Surveyor Pue." In this part the ghost states "do this, and the profit shall be all your own. You will shortly need it; for it is not in your days as it was in mine, when a man's office was a life-lease, and oftentimes an heirloom. But I charge you, in this matter of old Mistress Prynne, give to your predecessor's memory the credit which will be rightfully due." This is an important part because he is showing one of the reasons that coming into the letters in the Custom-House and the events that followed were his reasons for writing the book itself and mainly "The Custom House" , to give the story of his experience and how he came to write "The scarlet letter".
I believe the author wrote custom house because he tried to incorporate some type of feelings and thoughts that would intrigue the reader. It also gives incite on the author. Like how the author says how he is “uneasy” about writing because of his puritans ancestors. Its odd to be directly correlated with your ancestors and still think in someway that they once did. Also the author has to start the story some where and give some background info to the reader.
ReplyDeleteIt mentions how the narrator could not write while in the custom house. Does this play a major effect in the way the book was written? There is many scenarios and types of positions that people are put in that can change your thinking as a whole. Is it possible that Hawthorne was compromised? Maybe this is one of the reasons why he wrote the custom house because it gives the reader some piece of the type of diction and thoughts of the author.
The narrator seems to have a lot in common with Hawthorne so maybe a lot more than just them being custom officers. There is a play of contrasting ideas and many coming together especially between the author and narrator. Its odd to see the narrator say “an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life have taken possession over me”. I find this quote odd but its blatantly saying that twice has he written a biographical but he doesn’t seem happy about it. The quote and the “chilliest of social atmospheres” I find interesting because of the stories around the place and the Salem witch hunt. I think it is a incite on the way the book is going to be written, in a dark type of way. Julian Tucker
The Custom House- Scarlet letter Nathaniel Hawthorn
ReplyDeleteNathaniel Hawthorn wrote The Custom house as a way to tell set the mood for Scarlet Letter but incorporate his story of the custom house. Hawthorn says in the beginning of the introduction “I was happy enough to find a listener or two on the former occasion—I again seize the public by the button, and talk of my three years’ experience in a Custom-House.” The Narrator describes in great detail the custom house and all of Salem. He tells about what the He was Born and raised in the town he has been seeing slowly deteriorate as the trade is become more and more scarce.
Hawthorn wanted to describe the town of Salem. He wanted to describe the people behaviors and what their lives were like. He goes back to when he was a child and tells everything as far as he can remember also some stories he must have had heard while he was a child about his ancestors. He compares them to himself he says “strong traits of their nature have intertwined themselves to mine” meaning he is like his relatives in some ways without trying. He takes pride in Salem because his blood has been there for so long. Becoming custom house chief executive officer only proves his willingness to work for Salem.
Hawthorn and the narrator is not the same person but he does incorporate himself in the narrator. The narrator is a writer too and when he finds the paper and a red “A” that burns him when he puts it against his chest decides that he must tell the story of the Scarlet Letter. The ghost of Mr. Surveyor Pue came to him and told him “……do this, and the profit shall be all your own. You will shortly need it; for it is not in your days as it was in mine, when a man's office was a life-lease, and oftentimes an heirloom. But I charge you, in this matter of old Mistress Prynne, give to your predecessor's memory the credit which will be rightfully due” as he responds with a simple “I will” and so he tells the story of the scarlet letter. That is the why he writes the Custom house the introduction to scarlet letter.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s primary purpose for writing the Custom house is to introduce to the reader the setting and circumstances the Scarlet letter was written under. The author does this through vivid imagery, variety in syntax, and various historical allusions.
ReplyDelete“The room itself is cobwebbed, and dingy with old paint, its floor is strewn with gray sand, in a fashion that has elsewhere fallen into long disuse” is a quote from the texts that show how the author uses word such as ‘strewn’ and ‘dingy’, along with colors, to paint an image for the reader that appeals to their visual sense. The purpose of the author describing his surroundings in vivid detail is to convince the reader how ultimately dull and boring the narrator’s surrounding was thus supporting why the narrator struggled when writing the Scarlett Letter. There was very little inspiration to give him that extra shove he needed to write the story. Another reason the author uses imagery is to show the reader that the narrator was writing this story under circumstances that did not favor the pursuit of writing as a career. He describes how his Puritan ancestors find it meaningless and how his Custom-house duties were regarded as first priority.
The author also used a variety of syntax to introduce the reader to the setting and circumstances that the narrator wrote the Scarlet Letter under. He uses both periodic and cumulative sentences. “A better book than I shall ever write was there; leaf after leaf presenting itself to me, just as it was written out by the reality of the flitting hour, and vanishing as fast as written, only because my brain wanted the insight and my hand the cunning to transcribe it. “ This is an example of how the author used a cumulative sentence for the purpose of displaying to the reader the inner struggle the narrator faced about writing the Scarlet Letter. Again this shows the circumstance that the narrator was put under. The struggle he faced correlated with the lack of inspiration he faced. The syntax shows how the narrator was given all the ingredients and instruction to cook the dish, yet he was unable to easily utilize these tools to make the meal.
Various historical allusions were also used in the Custom-house to help the author’s primary purpose for writing it. The author described how the Custom-House officers were positioned during meetings by alluding to the Bible. “These old gentlemen-seated, like Matthew, at the receipt of custom, but not very liable to be summoned thence, like him, for apostolic errands-were Custom-House officers.” The purpose of using this allusion is to give credibility to the author since no one (especially in his very religious environment) would misquote the Bible and to also give the reader something familiar to relate the scene to. The allusion also serves the purpose to show a characteristic of people that the narrator was constantly surrounded by. The very connotation of the sentence show an air of strictness among the officers that they would not be pleased with the idea of the narrator spending his time writing a novel-this again displays how the circumstances of the narrator were against him pursuing writing..
Ketura Elie , period 1
ReplyDeleteNathaniel Hawthorne’s primary purpose for writing the Custom house is to introduce to the reader the setting and circumstances the Scarlet letter was written under. The author does this through vivid imagery, variety in syntax, and various historical allusions.
“The room itself is cobwebbed, and dingy with old paint, its floor is strewn with gray sand, in a fashion that has elsewhere fallen into long disuse” is a quote from the texts that show how the author uses word such as ‘strewn’ and ‘dingy’, along with colors, to paint an image for the reader that appeals to their visual sense. The purpose of the author describing his surroundings in vivid detail is to convince the reader how ultimately dull and boring the narrator’s surrounding was thus supporting why the narrator struggled when writing the Scarlett Letter. There was very little inspiration to give him that extra shove he needed to write the story. Another reason the author uses imagery is to show the reader that the narrator was writing this story under circumstances that did not favor the pursuit of writing as a career. He describes how his Puritan ancestors find it meaningless and how his Custom-house duties were regarded as first priority.
The author also used a variety of syntax to introduce the reader to the setting and circumstances that the narrator wrote the Scarlet Letter under. He uses both periodic and cumulative sentences. “A better book than I shall ever write was there; leaf after leaf presenting itself to me, just as it was written out by the reality of the flitting hour, and vanishing as fast as written, only because my brain wanted the insight and my hand the cunning to transcribe it. “ This is an example of how the author used a cumulative sentence for the purpose of displaying to the reader the inner struggle the narrator faced about writing the Scarlet Letter. Again this shows the circumstance that the narrator was put under. The struggle he faced correlated with the lack of inspiration he faced. The syntax shows how the narrator was given all the ingredients and instruction to cook the dish, yet he was unable to easily utilize these tools to make the meal.
Various historical allusions were also used in the Custom-house to help the author’s primary purpose for writing it. The author described how the Custom-House officers were positioned during meetings by alluding to the Bible. “These old gentlemen-seated, like Matthew, at the receipt of custom, but not very liable to be summoned thence, like him, for apostolic errands-were Custom-House officers.” The purpose of using this allusion is to give credibility to the author since no one (especially in his very religious environment) would misquote the Bible and to also give the reader something familiar to relate the scene to. The allusion also serves the purpose to show a characteristic of people that the narrator was constantly surrounded by. The very connation of the sentence show an air of strictness among the officers that they would not be pleased with the idea of the narrator spending his time writing a novel-this again displays how the circumstances of the narrator were against him pursuing writing..
By writing The Custom House chapter in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Hawthorne did three things; Primarily (or most prominently- better said), he described in a semi- fictional form his autobiography. He entertained the ideas of his relatives. He played with them in his words… agreeing, disagreeing, and qualifying their actions.
ReplyDeleteHe makes it clear within the first sentence of the chapter that it is a personal account; “It is a little remarkable, that- though disinclined to talk overmuch of myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personal friends- an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life have taken possession of me, in addressing the public.” By stating the latter as the introductory sentence to his novel, he made it very known that the contents of the book were- to some extent- truthful and, in some way, lived. It was his purpose to make it something of himself; though, he clearly wrote that such tales were told on a rare occasion.
He wished to, again, “seize the public by the button” and to, “talk [his] three years’ experience in a Custom-House.” To be clear, a Custom- House is a government office usually by a port that collects customs, or items and currency; it is also where ships are cleared for entry to the port. So, his purpose is clearly stated. No underlying theme is suspected- his purpose is to tell, to some extent, of his own experience. Amongst other things.
-Maya Namnum (AP Lang.)
In “The Custom-House”, we meet a character who is very similar to the author. The similarity between the narrarator’s life and that of Nathanial Hawthorne tells us that, in a way, this is a kind of autobiography of Hawthorne. He likely wrote the introduction to convey the challenges with writing the novel and figuring out how to share Hester’s story. The introduction connects the past and present, and the book with his/the narrator’s life. By adding the introduction through the eyes of another character he easily shows that the story is fictional but attempts to fit with historical accounts (the documents that are found). “A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in life,—what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation,—may that be?” This quote represents Hawthorne’s own doubts about his writing. He doesn’t see it as being beneficial to society, but these doubts are conveyed through his ancestors and what he thinks they would say. The narrator holds his ancestors in high regards and feels that he shares their great traits.
ReplyDeleteMoving on, the narrator is similar to Hawthorne because he also worked as a customs officer, lost his job because of political changes, and had Puritan ancestors who he respected but also hated. When the narrator works at the custom-house he is separated from the older, useless workers that are there. “… who depend for subsistence on charity, on monopolized labor, or anything else but their own independent exertions. These old gentlemen--- were Custom House officers.” The narrator is uninspired by the men that work close to him. Through his description, we see that they are incompetent and got long-standing positions through connections. The narrator learns about his audience from observations which adds to his challenges of making his book more accessible.
In addition, the narrator experiences writer’s block and has trouble writing around everyone else. He doesn't really appreciate himself or his literature “---though it has been as dear an object as any, in my literary efforts, to be of some importance in their eyes,” , but he conveys to us the desire to be noticed and thought more highly of. Even though he regards his ancestors highly, he downplays his own role and importance. This low self-esteem, paired with the inability to comfortably write, challenges him in his desire to tell the story of Hester Prynne’s life. By adding “The Custom-House” to The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne makes us understand the hardships he faced during the writing of this novel, and it even shows us the care and love that he had for the story.
Daniel Boeringer
ReplyDelete3rd period
1: Boredom and general distaste of co-workers
Hawthorne begins The Custom House with a discussion of his general reticence towards autobiography, but that as long as one doesn’t linger too much upon the “me” of autobiography, and instead discusses things in one’s surroundings, it should be OK. He’s acting as “editor” rather than “teller”, when he writes, “we may prate of the circumstances that lie around us, and even of ourselves, but still keep the inmost me behind its veil”. At any rate, Hawthorne’s discussion of the Custom House (we would call it “Customs and Immigration”, or “Homeland Security Check Point”, or “the place where I and my stuff get violated by people with little training and less class”. Hawthorne has some of the same observations, even hundreds of years prior to now. He notes that the building is old, dirty, and seldom used, and is inhabited by government workers who are employed, it seems, mainly to sleep. Hawthorne has little connection to them, and little to the Custom House, but it’s a job. He then describes where it sits in terms of the overall city of Salem, and gives us a few pages of description of the artist as a young man, born of Puritans, black and severe in cloth, who would very likely hold a dim view to his writing for a living, remembering one ancestor saying to another “What is he? A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in life, what mode of glorifying God or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation may that be? Why, the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!” Hawthorne goes on to describe his co-workers as political appointees who largely just told the same old stories again and again. However, Hawthorne spends some time describing the Inspector, who seemed such a permanent personage within the Custom House that he was almost part of the furniture.
2: Finding of the documents from Pue. As Hawthorne went about his duties, at one point he was looking over the documents found on the floor of the House. He picked up one parcel and found it to be from a Surveyor by the name of Pue, written 80 years before. These were private letters (not surveys of land) and they attested to Pue’s avocation, which was that of an antique collector. Among the items within the bundle was a bit of scarlet cloth with the embroidered letter “A” upon it (relevance at last!) Hawthorne was at once drawn to it like a moth to flame, but at the same time, when he placed the “A” against his own breast (for some unexplained reason) it began to burn him “as if the letter were not of red cloth, but red-hot iron”. Dropping the letter, Hawthorne then noticed a roll of parchment which contained, astonishingly, the tale of one Hester Prynne and her sordid tale of stigma.
3: Decision to write Scarlet Letter after being fired for political reasons: Although Hawthorne was fascinated by the Scarlet Letter documents; he couldn’t see himself writing anything about it in such boring, dreary, and intellectually draining surroundings as the Custom House. So it was something of luck that Zachary Taylor was elected President in 1848 and used his Presidential powers to (as Executives do) sweep a new set of cronies into positions of political importance, or at least employment. Having been put into the Custom House by the last President, Hawthorne found himself put out of it by Taylor, not just eventually, but at once! “My own head was the first that fell!” he writes of the firings at the House. Hawthorne made the best of it, declared his writing vacation to be over, and that he would once again be taking up the pen and with the story of the Scarlet Letter in front of him, he decided that he would provide his readers with a “version” of the tale as his next work. And so he did.
“The Custom-House” is a stand-alone section of the novel. It resembles more a tract or a personal essay than an introduction to a piece of fiction, but it offers plenty of insights that will support the rest of The Scarlet Letter. For one thing, we gain a sense of why the narrator feels the need to tell the story. As a man of youth and vigor, he feels somewhat at odds with the Puritan nature of his society. He himself seems to feel a deep resentment for the strict fidelity to rules and values that would deem his whole personality, and his ambition to write, as frivolous or even sinful.
ReplyDeleteI believe the primary purpose for the Custom-House introduction was to give the reader a better understanding of the people living in the Custom-House and their ways of living. In the introduction, the reader is given an overview of Hawthorne's points of views on the Custom-House. He thinks that those who once occupied Salem, were hurting it. He states "by her own merchants and ship-owners, who permit her wharves to crumble to ruin..."
Leah Utt
ReplyDeletep1
An eighty-two paged goliath, the Custom-House of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter serves an important literary purpose. The Custom-House immerses the reader into the society the rest of the book takes place in. Without the introduction of the Custom-House, a reader may be completely ignorant of the values and traditions of the book’s time-period, and find themselves unable to understand the rest of the book.
The setting of The Scarlet Letter is described in the custom house. Hawthore characterizes it as “...my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, in the days of old King Derby, was a bustling wharf.” Now the reader can easily picture the setting for the rest of the book, especially if he or she had never heard of Salem. When he later explains “I happened to place [the scarlet letter] on my breast. It seemed to me..., then, that I experienced a sensation not altogether physical, yet almost so, as of burning heat, and as if the letter were not of red cloth, but red-hot iron”. Here he not only explains the pain and suffering associated with the scarlet letter, but also the connection he had with it. The reader can start to understand that the scarlet letter is not just a mere addition to a wardrobe, but a fierce stigma. Finally, Hawthorne later explains the details of the father of the custom house by saying “ he had no soul, no heart, no mind; nothing…” This is crucial for the reader since he later judges the main character later in the book.
The Custom-House is quintessential to the book. Its purpose, to introduce readers to the intricate world of Salem, immerses readers into the book. Without the Custom-House, readers would not enjoy the rest of the book as much.
The Custom house of “The Scarlet Letter” is the author’s way of slowly easing you into the actual story, and how he came to discovering the story. When reading into page two he states “This, in fact- a desire to put myself in my true position editor, or very little more, of the most prolix among the tales that make up my volume-“. As you break that down what he is saying is that he desires to make his words count and make them heard even if his writing is long and tedious. He wants his writing to reflects his thoughts, and reflect the thoughts of others who read the book. That was his first purpose of writing the “Custom House”, to give you the motivation behind why he is writing “The Scarlet letter”
ReplyDeleteAnother reason as to why the author writes the “Custom House” is to introduce you to his background and some of the conflicts that arise because of his ancestry. “It still haunts me, and induces a sort of home-feeling with the past…. I seem to have a stronger claim to a residence here on account of this grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and steeple-crowned progenitor-“Let’s start from the beginning of that. Induce means to be influence by, Claim is to assert or maintain as a fact, and a Progenitor is a biologically related ancestor. If you begin to put that together you may notice that what he actually trying to address is actually quite simple when broken down. What the author is trying to say is that he is still heavily influenced by his past no matter how hard he tries to deny it or run away from it. His puritan past never ceases to follow him. That’s why he was nervous about writing the nook because it ridiculed puritans at some points and times about their harm look on religion and discipline. He was probably afraid of his ancestors looking down on him in disgust for “betraying” his own kind simply just to tell a tale.
Lastly the author wrote the Custom house was to show you where he found his inspiration. “prying further into the manuscript, I found the record of other doings and sufferings of this singular woman, for most of which the letter referred to the story entitled “The Scarlet Letter”’ In discovering this document he realized there were some untold stories of his ancestors past that needed to be revealed. He wanted the story to be brought to the attention of all, just as he would’ve wanted the story to be brought to the attention of himself. The author wanted to tell people the untold horrors of the puritans, who were put on pedestals for so long. “The Custom House” was written for the sole purpose of informing us on the different things contributing to the reason for writing “The Scarlet Letter”, his voice and his past.
-Megan Ortiz
period 3
Natalia Munoz
ReplyDeletePeriod 7
Three paragraph Scarlet letter response
Hawthorne, being the narrator was granted the position of chief executive officer of the Custom House through the president's commission. His analysis of this place though is harsh and critical. He describes his staff as a bunch of tottering old men who rarely rise out of their chairs and who spend each day sleeping or talking softly to one another. Hawthorne tells the reader that he could not bring himself to fire any of them, so after he assumed leadership, things stayed the same.
Salem is a port city that failed to mature into a major harbor. The streets and buildings are very worn down, the townspeople are very sober and old, and as said the grass grows between the cobblestones. The Custom House serves the small ship traffic going through the port, but it is usually a quiet place requiring only minimal work. The connection between Salem and the Puritans is made early on. Hawthorne's family originally settled in Salem, and he is a direct descendent of several ancestors. He describes his ancestors as severe Puritans decked out in black robes, having harsh judgment upon people who strayed from their faith. When discussing his ancestors, Hawthorne is mocking, jokingly wondering how someone such as himself could have born from such noble lineage.
The upstairs of the Custom House was designed to accommodate a large movement of goods through the port, and it is repair since it soon became extraneous. Hawthorne says that the large upstairs hall was used to store documents, and it was here that he has found an unusual package. The package contains some fabric with a faded letter A imprinted on the cloth, with some papers describing the entire story behind the letter. This is the story that Hawthorne claims is the basis for The Scarlet Letter.
Hawthorne’s primary purpose for writing the custom house was to give an autobiography of Hawthorne’s life as an administrator in the Salem Custom House. It was written to give background on the Scarlet Letter, and because he thought it was too short to publish by itself. It also describes society during his time, and it allows him to make it a story of finding the manuscript of finding the Scarlet Letter in the Custom House.
ReplyDeleteTowards the beginning, he starts off with telling his own personal story about his life and he continues on to talk about the society at his time. “In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, in the days of old King Derby, was a bustling wharf,--but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses, and exhibits few or no symptoms of commercial life; except, perhaps, a bark or brig, half-way down its melancholy length, discharging hides; or, nearer at hand, a Novia Scotia schooner, pitching out her cargo.....” He talks about how he doesn’t agree with the King and what he did to the town of Salem.
I also think he wrote the Custom House because from what Ive read, Nathaniel Hawthorne was a Free Mason, and didn’t agree with the Whig party, who was powerful in congress at the time that he published The Scarlet Letter. The custom house was “a metaphor for how the free masons could continue to exist despite the tyranny of the whigs”. This can be supported by the quote, pulled from the custom house, “ The greater part of my officers were whigs. It was well for their venerable brotherhood, that the new surveyor was not a politician, and, through a faithful democrat in principle. neither received nor held his office with any reference to political services.”
Emily Farrow period 7
The Custom-House” is a stand-alone section of the novel. It resembles more a tract or a personal essay than an introduction to a piece of fiction, but it offers plenty of insights that will support the rest of The Scarlet Letter. For one thing, we gain a sense of why the narrator feels the need to tell the story. As a man of youth and vigor, he feels somewhat at odds with the Puritan nature of his society. He himself seems to feel a deep resentment for the strict fidelity to rules and values that would deem his whole personality, and his ambition to write, as frivolous or even sinful.
ReplyDeleteThough we cannot necessarily conflate the narrator of “The Custom-House” with Hawthorne himself, despite their biographical similarities, we can observe the tension that both feel in their frustrations of having to choose between their art and their livelihood: "In short, the almost torpid creatures of my own fancy twitted me with imbecility, and not without fair occasion. It was not merely during the three hours and a half which Uncle Sam claimed as his share of my daily life, that this wretched numbness held possession of me." There seems to be a conflict raging internally, preventing the author from beginning his story. It goes beyond not having time to write. Instead, the question is whether the story is worth telling in the writer’s society. This reflection provides a literary answer about the significance of “The Custom-House”: it adds import and weight to the story to come. The narrator is suggesting that the story goes against the social mores that preserve order among the people. Having to go his own way as a writer, but stuck in his desk job, the narrator worries about losing his muse, worrying that he has "ceased to be a writer of tolerably poor tales and essays, and had become a tolerably good Surveyor of the Customs." He has the suspicion that his intellect has been "dwindling away," so much that the story of The Scarlet Letter would no longer be possible for him to write. The act of writing the novel, then, is itself an act of resistance against the increasing solipsism of his own nature, as well as against a society that would banish the artist as decadent or unproductive in a commercialized society.
The narrator notes that upon losing his job as the Customs purveyor, his soul finally broke free, allowing him to write the story of The Scarlet Letter and fulfill his true calling. Indeed, he cannot even remember his days of being at The Custom House, despite it being not too long ago. It is as if once he finally began doing what he was meant to do, his mind erased all the time he wasted, all the resentment that he associated with "Uncle Sam," who sucked away his passion and imagination. Still, he laments that in this community, he will never be afforded the respect he thinks he deserves as a writer and will never be welcomed genially. Instead, he is a citizen of "somewhere else," figuring that his "good townspeople will not much regret" him.
Leonardo Garcia 09-29-2013
ReplyDeleteP.4
Scarlet letter blog comment:
History can only define visionaries as a true reformer, but to their according society they were outcast. Nathaniel Hawthorne could be considered a reformer of American literature, touching ideas that authors of his time would never think of.
Hawthorne’s distance from certain relatives most likely led him to the ideas for his novels. His distant relatives being big players in puritan society with very strict rules and ideas that Hawthorne challenges in his writings. Hawthorne thought of putting a “w” in his name to distance himself farther from family. Though his uncle put him through school he never truly enjoyed it and wanted to live with his mother and sister who were boarding with farmers Hawthorne remembers this time as “for that part of the country was wild then, with only scattered clearings, and nine tenths of it primeval woods". Hawthorne’s great-great grand father was one of the judges appointed to the Salem witch trial which is what led to the w in Hawthorne. His ancestors were his inspirations for his notorious writings.
In Hawthorne’s early 40’s he took office as Surveyor for the District of Salem and Beverly and Inspector of the Revenue for the Port of Salem, a pretty high status earning him an annual salary of $1,200. Being a democrat during a new presidential administration taking power Hawthorne was removed. While in office Hawthorne always wondered about what his stories to write and what he could have been doing outside of office. Hawthorne was more contempt with the idea of leaving office and pursuing his writing which he said to a close friend”I am trying to resume my pen... Whenever I sit alone, or walk alone, I find myself dreaming about stories, as of old”. 2 years after taking office as secretary of the Salem Lyceum in 1848 he published the scarlet letter, which would become one of his most notorious writings ever to be published.
For a man whose ancestry is filled with puritan belief and strict law writing literature like the custom house and the scarlet letter is sort of disrespectful, but it’s an art in an attempt to convey the wrong doing of his ancestry who in today’s society is wrongful. Hawthorne seems to me to be a man of not his century, but of life. He says in a quote “no man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.” In this quote Hawthorne says that bouncing between too many sides might leave a man with the unknowing of his true belief.
I believe Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the Custom-House for a single reason that at first had me perplexed. It was to explain and describe his past and the remembrances that came with it in a story that gave vivid detail into what was going on around that time. Right off the bat Hawthorne uses the narrator as a portrayal of himself and he states “This old town of Salem—my native place, though I have dwelt much away from it, both in boyhood and maturer years—possesses, or did possess, a hold on my affections, the force of which I have never realized during my seasons of actual residence here.” He immediately gave a description of where he resided. And I already felt like he was going to give us a history lesson on Salem and its events.
ReplyDeleteNot only that, but he also states “But the past was not dead. Once in a great while, the thoughts, that had seemed so vital and so active, yet had been put to rest so quietly, revived again.” Once again he brings up the past. And then he begins to tell the story that he discovered and was written by Jonathan Pue. In the small references he makes, Pue seems to have certain characteristics that Hawthorne also possesses. The story that is told is of Hester Prynne. Who at one time also resided in Salem about one to two hundred years earlier. The detail given proves that Salem, at one point in time, was more eventful than it was in the time that this was written.
Finally, the narrator says “It may be, however,—O, transporting and triumphant thought!—that the great-grandchildren of the present race may sometimes think kindly of the scribbler of bygone days, when the antiquary of days to come, among the sites memorable in the town’s history, shall point out the locality of THE TOWN-PUMP!” He mentions the present race and the grandchildren that were soon to come to see all of the town’s accomplishments and events. He brings up the future to show that this discovery would not only ‘affect’ them and their future, but it would affect generations to come. This not only supports the idea of the remembrances but the greatness of the history and past before us. And that was Hawthorne’s purpose as well as his perspective for his audience and readers.
Danae Diaz
Period #3
The Custom House is an introduction of the story The Scarlet Letter, while is doesn't give any curial understanding to the novel. Although it is still important because it gives an extra layer of meaning to the novel. Hawthorns primary purpose to The Custom House was to give an additional perspective and an additional layer of meaning and insight to the novel.
ReplyDeleteFirst is gives us insight to Hester. At the start of the novel Hester came off to be bad. Some people even thought she should be put to death for her actions. Although they mention her as a women "being a angel". It is important that the narrator lets us know this, that way we can look for examples on how society's view changes towards Hester through out the novel.
This most importantly introduces us to the narrator. This is important because this is not written in the typical third person story. The narrator is not just telling us what is happening. This narrator interrupts the story, bringing our attention away from the plot. It is to remind us that this is just a story. "It seemed to me, the reader may have smiled but I may not doubt my word. It seemed to me that I have experienced". Then he goes on talking about what he has experienced. He brings attention to the reader and to himself as the writer. He brings attention to himself that way we remember that this is just a story and to know what is important to look for in the novel.
In the Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne chooses to begin his novel by setting the stage through the introduction entitled “The Custom House”. This introduction’s purpose is to create a relation of Hawthorne to the story. He creates a nameless narrator that is similar to Hawthorne himself. For example: “And now—because, beyond my deserts, I was happy enough to find a listener or two on the former occasion—I again seize the public by the button, and talk of my three years’ experience in a Custom House.” (Hawthorne, 1) This shows similarity between Hawthorne and the narrator because he was also a worker in a Custom House and wanted to share his stories.
ReplyDeleteEven though, Hawthorne is similar to the narrator, they are not the same. But they do have more similarities, such as their ancestry. Hawthorne wanted to explore his puritan ancestry and so did the narrator, as shown on page 8: “The figure of that first ancestor, invested by family tradition with a dim and dusky grandeur, was present to my boyish imagination, as far back as I can remember.” (Hawthorne, 8) This is also shown when the narrator compares the family history and how they react to Hester Prynne. “There were several foolscap sheets, containing many particulars respecting the life and conversation of one Hester Prynne, who appeared to have been rather a noteworthy personage in the view of our ancestors.” (Hawthorne, 41).
All in all, Nathanial Hawthorne wanted to make his personal mark on history. He did this through the Scarlet Letter and “The Custom House.” He compares himself and his life to a narrator who happens to parallel the main character. This semi-autobiography of Hawthorne helps view Hester Prynne in a much different way than you would without the introduction. I think that was his main purpose all in all, to help give a way to look at Hester with background knowledge. Through his altered personal life, you saw that.
“Human nature will not flourish, anymore than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil.my children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed.” This quote is harsh but very true and to the point, a human soul can only take so much and that all depends on how much we choose to take. This explains how important art is because it expresses humans more than we could ever do so ourselves verbally describing how we are.
ReplyDeleteHe did this to provide to use the base and frame of the characters who can be complex in personality to understand. He describes and sets in front of us the setting we are dealing with and the struggles of sometimes having to accustom yourself in a place that isn’t at its highest peak yet your are left no choice but to deal with it despite its condtion. At times its even more difficult having to constantly deal with people you don’t find easy to deal with or quite understand or even find appealing especially when they are unnecessarily repetitive.
He writes this intending it to be faithful and full of spirit a long with out of the ordinary. He is aware it isn’t your typical factual stories yet hopes to make the most magic of it. He introduces us to his finding in files and how peculiar what he finds is. He makes the most of it and enhances the sparks of his discovery.
-Helwah Kadur p7
Hawthorn in a connective way reaches out to the reader and pulled him into the setting off the story. For any first time readers of this novel, he is really trying to give you back round knowledge about himself by having you understand what he went through, using detail imagery. Hawthorn in a way also tried to connect to reader by showing the hardship that he went through at the same time comparing them to other's who worked in the custom house alongside of him.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really understood after reading the custom house was his sense of need to overcome difficultly and shame. What I mean is that, in the story he speaks of his ancestors an how his relative cannot be compared to him. That he should be seen stronger and more of a developed individual, for an example hawthorn states in the story, “And yet, though invariably happiest elsewhere, there is within me a feeling for Old Salem, which, in lack of a better phrase, I must be content to call affection. The sentiment is probably assignable to the deep and aged roots which my family has stuck into the soil. It is now nearly two centuries and a quarter since the original Briton, the earliest emigrant of my name, made his appearance in the wild and forest-bordered settlement which has since become a city. And here his descendants have been born and died, and have mingled their earthly substance with the soil, until no small portion of it must necessarily be akin to the mortal frame wherewith, for a little while, I walk the streets. In part, therefore, the attachment which I speak of is the mere sensuous sympathy of dust for dust (hawthorn pg.4) ", this show that he still believe in his own family morals and accepts the fact that their blood run through his vain, but he doesn't want to live like they have. He wants to make a statement to those in a similar situation.
He takes his situation and changes it into a lesson, without really proving it to the reader. it isn't until the story is well developed that he shows a little more insight that you can really see what he was trying to do, he goes on by saying ," In part, therefore, the attachment which I speak of is the mere sensuous sympathy of dust for dust. Few of my countrymen can know what it is; nor, as frequent transplantation is perhaps better for the stock, need they consider it desirable to know (hawthorn pg.4)." it’s almost as if he want to hide what his secrets but at the same time bring it to light , and show you his experience.
Hawthorn was able to create such an amazing novel by taking the key events of his life and use them as symbols in his writing. Being able to connect the past while in the present was strength to his writing as well as a way to pull the attention of his audience into a detail of his life growing up." This old town of Salem--my native place, though I have dwelt much away from it both in boyhood and mature years--possesses, or did possess, a hold on my affection, the force of which I have never realized during my seasons of actual residence here (hawthorn pg.4)" along the this paragraph you are able to see the connection to his past as he flashes back to some major event in his childhood, and then later show the effect of what happen though vivid descriptions.
In The Scarlet Letter, the town and the surrounding forest represent opposing behavioral systems. The town represents civilization, a rule-bound space where everything one does is on display and where transgressions are quickly punished. The forest, on the other hand, is a space of natural rather than human authority. In the forest, society’s rules do not apply, and alternate identities can be assumed. While this allows for misbehavior— Mistress Hibbins’s midnight rides, for example—it also permits greater honesty and an escape from the repression of Boston
ReplyDeleteHikari Nitta
ReplyDelete9/29/13
P.4
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the Custom-House to allow the readers to have a glimpse of what sparked a light to his writing. The Custom House takes place when Hawthorne was working as chief executive officer in the Salem Custom House. It sets to mood to how the novel will begin and what people were facing during that time. In Hawthorne’s time, Salem was a dying city. Many people were old, and the city itself was fading. When Hawthorne was fired from his job in the Custom House he became a story teller, fulfilling his dreams, and entertaining the people on the streets.
“A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in life,—what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation,—may that be?... And yet, let them scorn me as they will, strong traits of their nature have intertwined themselves with mine.” This quote explains how becoming a story teller was the way to go. Hawthorne himself is a Puritan and he wanted to tell the story through his perspective. He wants people to know the story of Hester, yet he fights his inner self because of his religion. He believes Puritans would be infuriated if he did write a story based on Hester. He states that his ancestors are "dim and dusky," "grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and steel crowned," "bitter persecutors”
As Hawthorne debated over writing The Scarlet Letter he quoted “Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.” What he meant was like popular culture things become a trend and fade away fast. He wanted to clearly state that history did occur in Salem, and he wanted to be the person to let everyone know of his finding when he worked in the Custom House.
In his semi-autobiographical preface “The Custom-House”, Hawthorne explores the subjects of his distant relatives, the significance of art, his taking of a public office, and his discovery of notes to portray his source of inspiration for writing his novel “The Scarlet Letter”. Hawthorne speaks of his distant relatives to show how they influenced his memories and feelings toward Salem. He demonstrates shame on what his distant relatives have done, “I, the present writer, as their representative, hereby take shame upon myself for their mistakes”. He even regrets the fact that he is from Salem that he did his very best to prevent his children from being raised there, he said that his children “have had other birthplaces”. The main reason why he feels ashamed of being from Salem is that Salem is associated with unpleasant things. The history of Salem, in a way, is told throughout his novel.
ReplyDeleteHawthorne also utilizes his taking of a public office to show his inspiration for writing “The Scarlet Letter”. Being chosen as the Collector for the Salem Custom-House was a big responsibility that added much stress and was “generally so fragile”. He had much power was too afraid to use it and others that had been in office for awhile had noticed that “the new Surveyor had no great harm in him”. As time progressed he gained more knowledge, which he used in his writings.
Hawthorne’s final form of inspiration for writing “The Scarlet Letter” was his ultimate discovery of notes. He had found “notes”/papers that were really earlier documents and archives of the Custom-House that contained many references to forgotten or remembered men and antique customs. Between the article written by Hawthorne’s predecessor, Jonathan Pue, titled “Main Street”, Hawthorne found the biggest piece of influence of his writing. Hawthorne had found a “red cloth much worn and faded. There were traces about it of gold embroidery” he then notices that the red cloth he had found was in the shape of a letter, “It was the capital letter A”. From this discovery, Hawthorne establishes the name of his novel, “The Scarlet Letter”. To him the great discovery had a “deep meaning in it, most worthy of interpretation”, and his personal interpretation is brought to us through his novel “The Scarlet Letter”.
Motives are what drive us I everyday life, but understanding them isn't always as simple as jut going along with them, I believe that the Custom House was just a way for Hawthorne to organize his thoughts and find is motives for writing the Scarlet Letter. He mentions through the prologue that he is an outcast himself and that his ancestors look down upon him because he has chosen to become a writer. You can also infer from the prologue that he based the main character after himself in a way.
ReplyDeleteHawthorne makes multiple references to the fact that he is looked down upon by his ancestors like when he says "At all events, I, the present writer, as their representative, hereby take shame upon myself for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by them may be now and henceforth removed.". He also says that other people in the town look down upon him because he is a writer and writers were not, or have ever been the most popular members of society. "What is he?" murmurs one grey shadow of my forefathers to the other. "A writer of story books! What kind of business in life may that be? Why, the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!" is the sentence that states that him being a writer isn't particularly hailed by other people in his town. I'm sure that they would prefer he be another laborer to lighten the loads that they had to carry while farming and harvesting.
Being an outcast is a major point that Hawthorne uses to relate bot the main character of the Scarlet Letter and the narrator in the Custom House. Both are looking for those that understand them and can relate to them on some level and see them for who they really are, not just some outcast. They are lonely people surrounded by people that do not care for them and repeatedly look down upon them and what they do or have done. "The new inhabitant—who came himself from a foreign land, or whose father or grandfather came—has little claim to be called a Salemite; he has no conception of the oyster-like tenacity with which an old settler, over whom his third century is creeping, clings to the spot where his successive generations have been embedded. It is no matter that the place is joyless for him; that he is weary of the old wooden houses, the mud and dust, the dead level of site and sentiment, the chill east wind, and the chillest of social atmospheres;—all these, and whatever faults besides he may see or imagine, are nothing to the purpose.". To me this quote beautifully summarizes how we see out casts and how they see us it speaks of the old generations who have been there for a varying amount of time and the new, the outcasts come in and disturb that which they have held dear, they disrupt the comfort of normality. The outcast on the other hand is the scared dog wandering into a new environment in which he as no stake and no ties to the land but wants to make those ties just like the people who have been there for generations.
Hawthrone's Scarlet Letter was inspired by the ducoment he found in the ducoment room of the Custom House, but the story was too short to be published by it self. So the Custom House is not just a brief biography of his life, but the background primary foundation of the fictional scarlet letter.
ReplyDeleteThe life of Custom House is very plane and monotask-like, the employs are constantly sleeping or chattering; not much work was to be done, since the Salmen was a little port that fail to became a major harbor. It's a little town full of tired old people, with little work and few ship traffics. Than he brought his family background into the story; witch is a very important background base of Scarlet Letter.
Hawthorne is a direct Puritain decent, he came from a noble Puritain family. The early Puritains that came to settle in America were very strick. They had very little religous tolerance, and they have very strong moral code. Hawthorne did mentioned that his family was one of them, they wear black robes and trash talk about those people who didn't follow their moral faith; and that was the time the Scarlet Letter was set. It gives a general idea what kind of time period the main character is going through and a little peak of the atmosphere of the story.
Brody Pennington
ReplyDeleteNathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, gives us some prefix to his life and his story in the Custom-House section of his book. He tells he somewhat wanted to be an author, but his Puritan ancestors wouldn't have approved. He tells of his position in this building, and later that he is fired. Before this however, he finds the capital letter "A" in bold red. Along with this he finds notes by a Pue telling of an Adulterer whom had captured his interest.
This interest, likely in my opinion, is the reason for him writing the story presented in the book. "I must not be understood as affirming that, in the dressing up of the tale, and imagining the motives and modes of passion that influenced the characters...," this quotes shows that he wanted to base a tale on the idea and basic principles, and wouldn't mind a bit of fabrication. Another quote: "I might, for instance, have contented myself with writing out the narratives of a veteran shipmaster," shows that he would've written any story, but this just caught his eye more." Daily life pressing so intrusively upon me, to attempt to fling myself back into another age," again, he says that his life is so boring that he'd want to feel that he's in the age of the story by writing it.
Thus, I believe that he wrote this story because it was interesting to him.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, was an author by chance. Without his job and life overall there would not be the book in general. Had his job not led him to the package and bored him then he wouldn't have written the book. Therefore Hawthorne's interest allowed us to become interested in his work.
In the novel The Scarlet Letter, the main characters trait reflects the author Nathaniel Hawthorn. I feel as if his purpose to writing the custom house was to show another perspective. In the story it explains that he spends a lot of time in the custom house seeing the ships pass by. "It will be seen, likewise, that this Custom-House sketch has a certain propriety, of a kind always recognized in literature, as explaining how a large portion of the following pages came into my possession, and as offering proofs of the authenticity of a narrative there in contained.", shows that he holds the house responsible for the way he feels about literature and its recognition.
ReplyDeleteAnother purpose for writing the custom house is that he was able to express how he truly felt in that house. "And now because, beyond my deserts, I was happy enough to find a listener or two on the former occasion I again seize the public by the button, and talk of my three years’ experience in a Custom–House.". And having that sense of feeling of being heard was an important thing for him at the time. Gave him a sense of hope.
Last purpose i believe why he wrote the custom house was because the people who listened to him didn't really know much about him, but still listened to him carefully and with a open mind. Like in this quote, "The truth seems to be, however, that when he casts his leaves forth upon the wind, the author addresses, not the many who will fling aside his volume, or never take it up, but the few who will understand him better than most of his schoolmates or lifemates." He explains that and adores the self respect received that came from little time.
-Duy Bui period 4
The Scarlet Letter
ReplyDeleteThe scarlet letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. The letter’s meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as an adulterer, the “A” eventually comes to stand for “Able.” Finally, it becomes indeterminate: the Native Americans who come to watch the Election Day pageant think it marks her as a person of importance and status. Like Pearl, the letter functions as a physical reminder of Hester’s affair with Dimmesdale. But, compared with a human child, the letter seems insignificant, and thus helps to point out the ultimate meaninglessness of the community’s system of judgment and punishment. The child has been sent from God, or at least from nature, but the letter is merely a human contrivance. Additionally, the instability of the letter’s apparent meaning calls into question society’s ability to use symbols for ideological reinforcement. More often than not, a symbol becomes a focal point for critical analysis and debate.
Hawthorne’s main purpose for beginning the Scarlet Letter with the Custom House was to provide a personal insight into the story. Even though it doesn’t correspond to the actual plotline/ the events of the story, it gives insight to the writing of the novel. It tells of Hawthorne’s Puritan ancestry, which does somewhat relate to the religious values and events seen in the Scarlett Letter. It also discusses and describes his career within the Custom House of Salem, Salem being the setting of the actual story. It was here in the Custom House that Hawthorne discovered the original manuscript of the events of the Scarlet Letter, and from that he wrote/ published his version of it. Like described, Hawthorne’s primary reason(s) for beginning with the Custom House were it related to his Puritan ancestry, and provides insight to the setting and plotline.
ReplyDeleteA main reason as to why Hawthorne chose to begin the Scarlet Letter with the Custom House was it related to his Puritan ancestry. “ Doubtless, however, either of these stern and black browed Puritans would have thought it a quite sufficient retribution for his sins that, after so long a lapse of years, the old trunk of the family tree, with so much venerable moss upon it, should have borne, as its topmost bough, an idler like myself.” As noticed by this quote stated on page 12, it provides a look into the thoughts and values of the Puritans. This quote gives the Puritan people the appearance of judgmental, stern looking always serious religious followers. It gives an idea of what to expect from the dominantly Puritan characters seen in the Scarlet Letter.
Another crucial reason as to why Hawthorne chose to put the Custom House in the beginning of the Scarlet Letter was it demonstrated how Hawthorne came to write the story. “ I chanced to lay my hand on a small package, carefully done up in a piece of ancient yellow parchment.” This quote illustrates Hawthorne’s finding of the original manuscript of the Scarlet Letter, which he came across working for the Salem Custom House. Soon after coming across the manuscript he was laid off from his employment at the Custom House. With this newfound opportunity of time, Hawthorne wrote and published his version of the Scarlet Letter. The Custom House introduction provides the history/ backstory behind the Scarlet Letter.
Samantha Outlan
ReplyDeleteNathaniel Hawthorne wrote “The custom house” as an introduction to his story. It was a way for Hawthorne to explain to the reader information that will aid them while reading the novel. He gives the background of the story and in inside look of his “three years’ experience in a Custom House.” The back ground information also helps the reader in other ways. It allows them to understand where the characters of the story are coming from. This way the reader can empathize with them.
The incorporation of the story of Hester Prynn also added to the great incorporation of essential background information. Hester was a “noteworthy personage in the view of our ancestors.” By telling their story the reader gains a better understanding of what might lead into the story. The author also begins to compare himself to this character. This brings up more information that sets the guide for the story.
The custom house also sets the mood for the story. He informs the reader of the cycles that the story has been through. Hawthorne’s main purpose of writing the custom house was to lay out the bases for the story. Without this the audience would lose the deeper connection to the story that it brings. This makes the custom house an important part of the Scarlet Letter.
In the introduction to "The Scarlett Letter", Hawthorn takes the reader on an adventures through his brain. More specifically the times of before and during the writing of the novel. Hawthorn writes about a wide range of topics ranging from sailor stories, to the people he met, to his family history. All of these topics he writes about all have something in common and show his purpose to writing the Custom House introduction. The purpose of Hawthorn writing the Custom House was to show the reader the significant place the Custom House itself held throughout his life.
ReplyDelete"I'll try, sir!" is one of the things Hawthorn remembers from one of the many people he came across, this one being The General. Hawthorn reflects on people such as the Whigs: " hardly a man of the old corps would have drawn the breath of official life" but didn't fire them because he wasn't there to be political. There was the father figure of the Custom House: the Inspector. Hawthorn was probably most fascinated by him because " he was a most satisfactory object, from the thorough healthfulness and wholesomeness of his system." Throughout the Custom House introduction, Hawthorn tells stories of all the people he meets. He tells the reader stories about stories he had heard in his years at the Custom House. The General, Surveyor, Whigs, Collector, Inspector, the sailors: all of these characters and personalities Hawthorn came across made working at the Custom House so interesting everyday, regardless of how much he downplayed his experiences and the Custom House. Hawthorn wrote this part to give the reader a slice of what some of his daily interactions consisted of.
"My native place...possesses, or did possess, a hold on my affections, the force of which I have never realized during my seasons of actual residence here." Hawthorn's family tree grew in Salem. Generation after generation, sailor tale after sailor tale, his family resided there. When he realized he wanted to get out of Salem permanently, it would only end up being for a few years. For some reason Salem kept drawing him back. It was as if his world revolved around Salem and he couldn't stay away for too long. Two-hundred plus years is a long time for a family to stay in one town. The historical and personal significance to Hawthorn is also why he wrote the Custom House. It show the personal connection he has, then had and once again has with the town. He wasn't some guy who rolled into Salem, found a paper with a letter and became famous. Hawthorn's family sailed the waters in that area for scores upon scores of years. That connection he has with Salem and thusly the Custom House itself is why he wrote the Custom House.
Hawthorn's length introduction to "The Scarlett Letter" was meant to show significance. The people he interacted with, along with the history he had, contributed to the writing of the Custom House. Hawthorn wanted to let the reader connect with him and gain a better understanding of the Custom House before the reader dives into the Scarlett Letter.
The author uses the introduction to introduce the narrator and show how he connects to Hester Prynne. The narrator is a young person working in a custom house. His youth sets him apart from the people he works with. This is similar to Hester whose youth also sets her apart from those around her. They both feel alienated from the people they are surrounded by. The narrator find Hester interesting because she represents America in the past, but she her experiences also reflects his own problems in his life. They are also similar in that they both come from Puritan roots. The struggle with this part of their life is something they share.
ReplyDeleteAnother purpose for writing the introduction is to discuss the issues he has with writing his story. The narrator is greatly affected by his Puritan roots – values that look down upon writing. He writes, “A writer of story-books! What kind of a business in life,—what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation,—may that be? Why, the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!” Such are the compliments bandied between my great-grandsires and myself, across the gulf of time! And yet, let them scorn me as they will, strong traits of their nature have intertwined themselves with mine.” He knows that his ancestors find it to be a waste of time, even though he desires so strongly to write. This inner conflict is an obstacle he has with writing his story. His sarcastic tone in this quote shows how much his roots are bothering him. Another issue is that he knows he will have a small audience. He understands that it’s difficult to write a story that will interest a wide range of people. However, the challenge he sets for himself includes telling Hester’s story while appealing to all kinds of readers, both meaningfully and emotionally. His last obstacle is his work life. To submerge himself into writing his story he must let go of his “real world” ties and focus on his writing.
One more thing he depicts in his introduction is his desire to contribute to American culture, while appealing to people universally. Hawthorn wrote during a time period when American culture wanted to diverge from its European past. However, Hawthorn, as well as the narrator, wants to write a story that wont be labeled as solely an “American story.” He wants to contribute to American culture, yes, but to do this he wants to rise above its “Americanness” and achieve a universal appeal. This is the only way that American culture can thread its roots throughout the world.
In The Custom House, we read an introduction to the actual book, The Scarlet Letter. This section of the book gives us a look into the main character and what is going on in his life. We can see that he does not really enjoy where he is in life at the moment, and has other dreams of what he wants to do in life. He finds the custom house very run down, and does not like being inside of the building at all. He also believes his Puritan ancestors would not have approved of him being a writer. This is confirmed when the book depicts his forefathers saying: “Why, he might as well have been a fiddler!”
ReplyDeleteAlso, The Custom House could have been written for the audience to identify how similar the author and narrator are. In real life, Nathaniel Hawthorne did work in a custom house, and was terminated of his job because of political shifts in power. Hawthorne also had Puritan ancestors. I believe that it is not simply a coincidence that this is a reality. There has to be more to it than it, and I think Hawthorne is warning us of it.
Hawthorn's main reasons for writing the scarlet letter was to discuss puritanism, justice, and judgement. He lived in a time of new exploration in literature. The article says "he never identified completely with these movements". Both movements were romantic and transcendental meaning abstract works. And Hawthorne was more critical and informative.
ReplyDeleteHe focused on the aspect of the way women were treated in a puritan community. in then picture the lady with a letter, i have some back ground knowledge to her. She committed adultery out of wedlock and was forced to wear a big A as punishment. This was to show the community she was a cheater.
I think what Hawthorne was trying to accomplish to show that the way women are treated is inhumane and wrong. Considering that we fought for the freedoms of ALL people not to long earlier. He wanted to show the the colonies to lead by example and show that we can be different in ways other t6han freeing our selves from a monarchy.
-Aaron Ritter
I now see the reason for why Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the Custom house. It was made to be his autobiography and possibly explain why he wrote the scarlett letter
ReplyDeleteDaniel Xenes
ReplyDeleteEvery story has its origin, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” is no exception. Yet what this story begins with is no ordinary introduction. It features a long narrative from a man who works at a Custom- House, a place where they collect taxes and tariffs, as he explains his thoughts and findings during his time there. Hawthorne’s purpose for writing The Custom-House is simply to give the reader the background of how the narrator finds this diary and Scarlet Letter as well as to introduce fundamental perspectives and ideals are continuous throughout the novel. In other words, it gives the story a justified reason for why it’s being told, and with the narrator’s perspective in mind, the story is easily more relatable to the authors intended purpose, as the narrator mentioned shares several characteristics as the real author himself.
As any introduction, The Custom-House is full of vivid imagery and description of the setting, the town of Salem, as well as an in-depth analysis of the narrator’s perspective of his occupation and history. Hawthorne provides a clear and authentic description of Salem such as “In my native town of Salem, but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses, and exhibits few or no symptoms of commercial life”. The narrator shows that his town isn’t in the best condition, and establishes a tone of gloominess and despair throughout the novel, but it is clearly evident that the narrator still has feelings for his hometown. “I felt it almost as a destiny to make Salem my home; so that the mould of features and cast of character which had all along been familiar here” Even though the narrator feels as he is an outcast in his family, he still has a special connection to this town.
Later on in the introduction we observe a shift from exterior depiction of events to a more internal conflict in the narrator. The major conflict was evidently with his ancestors, as it was clear how he didn’t fit in. “What is he?" murmurs one grey shadow of my forefathers to the other. "A writer of story books! What kind of business in life—what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation—may that be? Why, the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!" Even his want to be a writer is scrutinized by the ominous oppression of his puritan descendants. This leads to a central theme of the story, relating to Hester Prynne’s similar exclusion from the earlier colonist of the town. As the narrator discovers the scarlet letter itself, it is basically the only part of his constant analysis of his surroundings that he cannot understand. “…subtly communicating itself to my sensibilities, but evading the analysis of my mind.” The introduction does its job by setting the tone, and establishing why the narrator was so interested the first time he saw that Scarlet Letter on the floor.
CLARINES MARTINEZ P:4
ReplyDeleteHawthorn’s primary purpose for writing the Custom house was to create the Both Romantic and Transcendental movements in American literature. His novel reflected both of those through his commitment and his confidence. In his novel, the character development show the side of the mystery romance that people don’t agree with. He brings the reader into those times of where masters and the government punish those who don’t learn and they make sure that person has develop from that mistake into a more mature person. "She thinks that Chillingworth might be poisoning her, but he assures her that he wants her to live so that he can have his revenge", this shows that the chillingworth wanted her to suffer but stay alive to learn from her mistakes and possibly live in them.
Hawthorne has a tone in his writings that shows his position on the situtation with hester. It is almost like he possibly sees potential in her and her daughter. This potential i speak of is that she might be the one to tell her stories and teach her child to not become like one of her and to learn from her mistakes to blossom into a more mature and sophisticated human being. This is the type of person expected of the government and the masters.