LITR 4232: American Renaissance

UHCL, spring 2002

Student Research Proposal

Jennifer Laubach

For my term paper, I plan on writing an analytical essay (option 1) explore a few aspects of Hawthorne's short stories.  I want to explore how knowledge leads to the "unpardonable sin" (withdrawing from society)and how knowledge about society leads to self destruction. I would also like to focus on how knowledge, whether it be scientific or insight into neighbors' lives can lead to a character's demise.  I was thinking that I could somehow tie in the transcendentalist idea that nature holds the answers to life, and that society somehow impedes the learning process.  For this comparison I will analyze "Young Goodman Brown, " "Rappacinni's Daughter, " and "The Minister's Black Veil."  I want to explore how knowledge is a "double-edged sword."  I was wondering if you think that this topic might be too broad.  I think that it might be possible to break it down into a few different essays, but I would like to try to tackle the topic as a whole.

-Jennifer Laubach-

Dear Jennifer,

I like the theme you're imagining, and the texts seem appropriate. Hawthorne is generally considered a Transcendentalist only in a broad sense of the word, especially in terms of his tendency to set up correspondences between outer appearances and the inner soul or self. If this qualifies him as a Transcendentalist, though, compared to Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and others, he's a somewhat dark or tragic Transcendentalist, exactly in the terms you set forward. Whereas the Transcendentalists generally posit knowledge or awakening to nature as good, Hawthorne (like Melville) sees the double edge of the sword, as you put it. Another consideration may be in terms of the moral or religious dimensions you raise with "unpardonable sin." Recall that Adam's and Eve's primal sin was eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Innocence and ignorance are sometimes correlated with each other, which results in a further correlation of sin and knowledge. Hawthorne's very sensitive to the "pride" people take in too much knowledge.

Well, Hawthorne really leads one to talk this way--part of his charm, the way all actions or inclinations in human life have moral or spiritual overtones. Work on setting up this Transcendentalist framework, and then play Hawthorne's variations on it.