Biography Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4th, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He grew up with an Aunt and Uncle who were very wealthy and helped him make his way through college. One of Nathaniel’s ancestors, John Hathorne was a judge during the Salem Witch Trials where he was very harsh and gained a bad reputation. This caused him to add a W to his last name so he could distance himself from their past. Despite distancing himself Nathaniel was a political figure as a surveyor until his opposing party won Presidency and he lost his job. This led Hawthorne to write one his most prolific The Scarlet Letter in which a woman has a child out of wedlock in a time where you were outcast for such an occurrence. He was a very productive other who wrote novels that have relevance in today’s genres. His story House of the Seven Gables deals with witchcraft and fantasy that was in Hawthorne’s background. Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing ability was noticed by a close friend, Franklin Pearce, Pearce eventually became President and as a gesture to Hawthorne Franklin made him the U.S. Consul and during this time he was able to travel Europe. He eventually made it back to the United States and proceeded to write a story that described his travels. Hawthorne also married and had three children. Hawthorne was also friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and him and his family lived on Emerson’s land for a time. In 1860 Hawthorne wrote his final novel and his health began to fail. He refused to receive medical attention over a course of a few years and died in 1864. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a very important author whose novels still hold up in today’s society. Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the first well know authors to employ fantastical elements while also having a type of horror in his writing and he is still very relevant today.
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