Nathaniel Hawthorne

[Yokou]

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of my favorite auhors. My favorite book that he has written is "The Scarlet Letter". It has very good characters, a nice setting, and a complex plot. It is beautifully detailed. I love it ^^

[Bunny]

The Scarlet Letter was great! I had to read it for a class assignment and after six hour projects, tests, and essays, I still love it. (Which says a lot. I usually hate anything that's forced on me. ^^;; ) I love his use of metaphor but he seems to go into descriptive overkill from time to time. Just his style, I guess, but for people like me with short attention spans, it can get a bit boring in areas.
Pearl was my favorite character. Everyone in my class insisted that she was a demon child but I thought she was just misunderstood. XD

[Kaori]

It is indeed a good book. I was slightly put off by Hawthorne's rather negative view towards the Puritans, but it is very beautifully written. Have you ever read "The Minister's Black Veil?" It's a short story by the same author. Very intersting.

[Yokou]

Yes, I have read that one. It was very inspirational.

[Ingemar]

I've read "SL" and another book, "The House of Seven Gables." I can tell Hawthorne is a good writer, but he just bores me to tears. 7Gables had an interesting premise, but it goes way overboard in exposition, and goes well past the halfway point before anything interesting, related to the awesome intro happens. So I chucked it and gave up. When I read the Cliffs Notes later, I said, "Oh man, I missed such a great story!" Oh well.

[The-Case]

It is indeed a good book. I was slightly put off by Hawthorne's rather negative view towards the Puritans, but it is very beautifully written. Have you ever read "The Minister's Black Veil?" It's a short story by the same author. Very intersting.

[color=Red]I think the Puritans deserved a lot of the reputation Hawthorn gave them. Persecuted in England, they came to America seeking religious freedom, but once they got here, they offered no such freedom to anyone else. In my opinion, they were one of the most oppressive groups in early America. It wasn't until the puritan minister Roger Williams was exiled to the Road Island Colony that the Quakers were formed and religious freedom allowed (if only in that small, Road Island Colony). By the way, Williams was exiled for his beliefs that church ministers should not be colony leaders (Church-State separation) and that the natives should be paid for the land the Puritans took from them.

Aside from that, the Puritans believed in predestination. By that, I mean they detested the arrogant notion that salvation could be personally chosen. They believed God willfully denied salvation to people just because He could. Only the elect or justified could enter Heaven, and the evidence of that justification was what they called "sanctification", or holy behavior allegedly resulting from justification. They never believed that sanctification could bring about justification, but many who wanted others to regard them as elect would act chronically holier-than-thou and impose strict, harsh, impossible standards on others to show (and possibly make sure) they were justified. As you can imagine, this mode of thinking led to a lot of down-nose looking and harsh law and paradigm. Much of what is read in The Scarlet Letter, though perhaps exaggerated, is probably not that far from the truth.

I liked The Scarlet Letter. Any problems I had with it were brought about by the issues it raised or minor stylistic preferences. There is no doubt that this book is one of the greats! I think reading the old classics is great, though I find I have little time to read anymore]

[Bunny]

It wasn't until the puritan minister Roger Williams was exiled to the Road Island Colony that the Quakers were formed and religious freedom allowed (if only in that small, Road Island Colony).

Actually, I'm pretty sure the Quakers were started in the good ole state of Pennsylvania by William Penn. ^^ But I have to say I didn't exactly object to his condemning of Puritan hypocrisy, either.

[The-Case]

Oops! You're absolutly right! I should check my facts a little better next time before I open my big mouth. I am SO sorry!

It seems that Roger Williams never really started a new religion, merely, a sort of denomination of Puritanism where he propigated his belief in religious tolerance. Again, I'm really, really sorry.

[The-Case]

Oops! You're absolutly right! I should check my facts a little better next time before I open my big mouth. I am SO sorry!

It seems that Roger Williams never really started a new religion, merely, a sort of denomination of Puritanism where he propigated his belief in religious tolerance. Again, I'm really, really sorry.

------

**Accidental double post** You can think of it as me being doublely sorry.

[Bunny]

Oh, dude. Relax! It's a super-easy mistake. I didn't mean to embarrass you. ^^;;

[kirakira]

I really don't care for Hawthorne. *sweatdrop* His style just isn't my cup of tea, I suppose. "he just bores me to tears" As Ingemar so eloquently put it. *lol* We read House of Seven Gables last year in Humanities class, and while I do pride myself in being one of the few people to actually read it, it just wasn't my favorite. ^_^

[Sparrowhawk]

I read it just a couple of months ago, and i thought it was well written, and, as far as American "classics" go, it is my favorite. Unfortunately, I don't care much for american literature besides fantasy, which does not get much recognition. However that's nothing against Hawthorne. It's just that the Scarlet Letter was more character development than plot, and i prefer plot first. Great book though, i started it for school, but was was finished when my class was still only about a quarter of the way through.

[Hikage_Ninja]

I enjoyed the two books of Hawthorne's that I've read. "House of Seven Gables" and "The Scarlet Letter." Both I had to read for school, but enjoyable nontheless. I absolutely loved the symbolism in "The Scarlet Letter."

[John316]

Aside from that, the Puritans believed in predestination. By that, I mean they detested the arrogant notion that salvation could be personally chosen. They believed God willfully denied salvation to people just because He could.

I don't think you should be putting down people who believe in predestination (as there still are many who do, some of whom do post on these boards).

[Scribs]

I have read "the scarlet letter"

It was good, but not good enough to make me want to read more by Hawthorne