Hawthorne's Short Stories

By Eric Wilson on June 9, 2001 In your face, obvious, and heavy-handedly allegorical, still Hawthorne manages to pique my interest and hammer home his point. Switching from historically based stories ("The Gray Champion" and "Endicott and the Red Cross") to spiritual allegories ("The Bosom Serpent" and "The Celestial Railroad"), Hawthorne continually chips away at the danger of isolation. Although he clearly believed in the fallibility and evil of the human heart--particularly pointing out the religious hypocrites--he also believed that one must continue to risk and be a part of the community. In stories such as "Young Goodman Brown" and "Wakefield", we see the gloom that comes over certain men who pull away. Hawthorne, like Poe, uses graphic and surreal imagery, sometimes repetitively, to set a mood and draw a picture. His characters and scenes are alive and psychological consistent with his tales, and he manages to wring a moral out of nearly every page. Heavy-handed? Yes, but he aims to state a message, and he states it clearly: The moral nature must never be sacrificed for intellectual pursuits (Ethan Brand). In a world of cheap commercialism and mindless brain fodder, at least Hawthorne has something to say. ( amazon customer review)