Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Newman, Andrew | Eric Haralson.
Date
2010-05-01
Keywords
Literature, American
Department
Department of English
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/72554
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
This thesis looks at the use of isolation within the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, focusing on"Roger Malvin's Burial," while highlighting his points through several of his other short stories and The Scarlet Letter. This will primarily focus on the isolation of the one from society who is still apart of it; by that I mean the person who lives in society, interacts with those around him, but holds something inside which isolates him from the others. I pay particular attention to his use of guilt and secret sin, as well as Nature. Guilt and secret sin disease the minds of his characters, forcing their isolation to create misery. Nature is used by Hawthorne both as a way to mirror the emotions of the characters within it and, particularly the forest, as a way to delve into the subconscious of the main characters. I tie these discoveries together throughout the text through a comparison of Hawthorne's views with those of the transcendental writers who wrote at the same time as him, focusing on Emerson's"Nature" and"Self-Reliance" and Thoreau's Walden.
Recommended Citation
Johns, Kevin, "A Sphere by Oneself: Hawthorne and Self-Reliance" (2010). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 1758.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/1758