What Struggles Did Young Nathaniel Hawthorne Face As A Writer?

Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the foremost American authors of all time, encountered extreme adversity throughout his very early career. As the great-grandson of a judge during the infamous Salem witch trials, Hawthorne struggled intensely with his family’s past, with guilt-ridden feelings dictating much of his life. At the same time, Nathaniel had felt it necessary to search desperately for his writer’s voice. These increasingly becoming sense of obstruction and apprehension were threatened always by exceedingly lofty expectations. He was constantly beset by the dark specter of his grandfather’s behavior as a habeus corpus-minded (‘liberty to the prisoners’) magistrate during the witch-hunted community of Salem. His normal, early hopes as a sincere but moderately talented writer stifled and pinched by immense burden, burdened in its relentless cruelty as expected always – paralyzing – that would never fail to vanquish and speak – merciless – to he who had himself long harbored – secret – unsustainable hope.

Additionally, Hawthorne had trouble coming to terms with his unemployed status after he stopped working in a custom house in 1839. Much of his early writing did not receive the appreciation that the young author had hoped for and therefore did not generate any income for Hawthorne. He was left to struggle along, and his isolation only led to more introspection and in the end more penetrating work which delved into very dark subjects. Sometimes his reflections on Transcendentalism were brief and often sharply critical. At a time in our culture when all optimists seemed to be writing literary works of great promise the sincere sceptic stood out from the crowd.

Finally gaining recognition through his short stories, Hawthorne turned his hardship into literary masterpiece after ‘The Scarlet Letter’ and ‘The House of the Seven Gables’ were written. His way of portrayal through works is eloquent and has captured the hearts of readers in all over the world. I respect Hawthorne’s way of viewing life positively through hardship in self-confidence and financial difficulties as they greatly enhanced his unique pen as well as his insight to human morality.

Nathaniel Hawthorne faced many challenges as a writer. Perhaps the greatest burden on his writing was the legacy of his ancestors in the Salem witch trials. This would be a tremendous weight for any writer to bear, and it would be one that would press Hawthorne to explore deeply meaningful subjects in his work.

He struggled financially. Most of his work was rejected. Hawthorne continued to work hard and one day he produced ‘The Scarlet Letter’. Although it took him a while, the end was well worth it. Many of the stories he wrote contained deep meaning and criticized the social norms of the time in which he lived. Today many people, including myself, can appreciate Hawthorne’s writing because it showcases how art can come from places of great struggle and confusion, even of chaos.

Nathaniel Hawthorne struggled with a number of issues in his early life, including his obligation to grapple with the dense, foggy issues of personal and societal morality. As a member of a very moral family, the ancestors of whom had been involved in the infamous Salem witch trials, Hawthorne felt a crushing burden of guilt. This guilt was not only personal, but also a tool which Hawthorne felt compelled to use in his writing in order to grapple with moral issues of great import. His early work was often fraught with difficulty.

Nathaniel Hawthorne had his share of money struggles. The young author essentially was starving while developing his writing style. His short stories published in various magazines were unsuccessful. They earned Hawthorne little money. His harder-than-usual financial circumstances likely led the budding author to concentrate on shorter pieces. However, ultimately, these compositions of shorter lengths allowed Hawthorne to further concentrate his storytelling’s major point: probing human psychology, chiefly in his brief character sketches, like that in ‘Young Goodman Brown’. One can say that problems the writer encountered in life enabled him to hone his powerful writing.