Notes and “Young Goodman Brown” vocabulary Caleb Baisden 11/16/2021 Nathaniel Hawthorne Background Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, as Puritanism was on the wane in the region. However, Puritans still dominated Salem itself. Puritans were a grouping of Protestants, particularly English Calvinists, who came to the New World to worship God in a manner they saw as purer in terms of Christian doctrine and practice. This is important because Hawthorne’s relatives were Puritans in the 1600s Hawthorne Background & Style From 1825-1837, he spent his time in virtual solitude. It was during this twelve year apprenticeship that he learned his craft. In 1837, he published the collectionTwice- Told Tales. It was well-received and he was on his way. In the early 1840s, Hawthorne and his wife moved to Concord, which was filled with great minds, including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, and, later, Herman Melville. Aside from Melville, Hawthorne was virtually the only one who held onto the Puritan view of humankind.
