~Nathaniel Hawthorne~

1
Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Introduction to The Scarlet Letter (The
  Custom-House)

2
Basic Background Information

• The novel was written after he was fired from the
  Salem Custom House in 1849.
• It is considered as an autobiographical sketch of
  Hawthorne.
• Custom House serves the role of a frame for the
  main narrative

3
Summary

• A nameless narrator as the chief executive
  officer, or surveyor, of the Salem Custom House
• The geography and environment of Custom-House
• The fellow workers
• Found an unusual package in the large upstairs
  hall

4

• The package consisted
• a rag of scarlet cloth
• the shape of a letter
• the capital letter A
• The story is a fictional account of Hester
  Prynnes experiences
• After sacked because of the political changes,
  Hawthorne starts to write the narrative.

5
The relation between the Introduction,
Custom-House, and the Scarlet Letter

• 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. (P 1337)
• Isolation and alienation (Hester vs. narrator)

6
Techniques

• Point of View
• First-person narrative point of view through a
  nameless narrator who has the same traits as
  Hawthorne himself
• Setting
• Salems Custom House, which is near a rotting
  port

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• Subject
• Mainly talks about the narrators life
  experiences in Salem Custom-House as an chief
  executive officer
• Hawthornes initial motive of why he writes the
  later narrative, the Scarlet Letter
• Symbolism in the Novel
• A represents adultery (P 1350)
• Eagle represents shelter and attack (P 1334)

8

• Drawing of Nathaniel
  Hawthorne
• Salem Custom
  House c. 1850

9

• Derby Wharf and
  Salem Harbor
• 
  Shoreline, painting by Fred
• 
  Freeman
• 
  Hawthornes Office in the Salem
• 
  Custom House

10
References and Work Cited

• SparkNotes Nathaniel Hawthorne
• http//cgi.sparknotes.com/hlite.mpl?wordshawthorn
  e,nathaniel
• The Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne
• http//www.eldritchpress.org/nh/nhtroll.htmlg08