Self Reliance, By Nathanial Hawthorne

Nathanial Hawthorne was a writer that lived in Salem, Massachusetts and struggled with his family’s puritan legacy. He wanted to disconnect himself from religion almost all together because he was ashamed of his past. Hawthorne lived by the idea that Emerson expresses in his literature. “All men have my blood, and I have all men’s” (“Self-Reliance” 11). Hawthorne understood the underlying message that Emerson was expressing; just because the people in one’s life have different beliefs than his, it doesn’t mean they should make him change his own beliefs. This is a reason why he added the “w” in Hawthorne. He wanted to detach himself from his great grandfather because of his strong Puritan beliefs and his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials.
However, it wasn’t much better in Massachusetts. People were expected to repress emotions, opinions, and individuality because of the beliefs of Puritanism. Puritans believed that God gave signs through people and their fate which represented favor or anger from Him. Anything that was different from the religious beliefs of Puritanism, since it made up the majority in Massachusetts, was looked down upon. This can be seen in the historical event of the Salem witch trials. In the late 1600’s a series of hangings took place to punish a practice what was supposedly going on known as witchcraft. The fundamentals of this practice included a connection with nature, animalistic qualities such as cries and noises made by humans, and a sense of the individual before the community. The different opinions and actions that the people who were accused of as being witches were looked at as signs from God that represented a connection with the people to the Devil. To punish the accused witches of their actions and thoughts because they did not follow puritan beliefs, they were hanged. The connection that the Salem Witch Trials had on Hawthorne can be seen through the setting of “Young Goodman Brown.” The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. The puritan connections in his writing don’t stop at the setting, but continue to develop
In the Scarlet Letter, the community that Hester lives in is the same, everyone there shares the same religion because that is what they have been taught by their Puritan ancestors. There is no individualism within the community. Hawthorne shares that he doesn’t believe this should be the way, “A pure hand needs no glove to cover it” (Scarlet Letter 155). Here, he is taking on a transcendental belief because transcendentalist believe in the truth and they do not want to follow society’s rules or regulations because they are aspiring to be truly themselves while society tries to prevent individualism. Pearl is a great example of transcendentalism. She doesn’t care what society thinks of her even as bad as they treat her for not conforming to their society. Her rejection from society from the very beginning since, “Pearl was born an outcast of the infantile world” and her distance from the other kids because “Pearl saw and gazed intently; but never sought to make acquaintances” is an example of one of Emerson’s ideas in “The Transcendentalist” paper (Scarlet Letter 90). Emerson believes that “for nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure” is demonstrated through how Hawthorne characterizes Pearl (“The Transcendentalist” 10). Also, Pearl has a strong connection with nature and is compared to a bird more than once. “Finding it impossible to touch her as to catch a humming-bird in the