Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment - Nathaniel Hawthorne - 190 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment 

The story was published anonymously in 1837, it was later published in Hawthorne's collection Twice-Told Tales, also in 1837.



'Dr. Heidegger's Experiment' is a short story that explores a quest for eternal youth.


The story begins with Dr. Heidegger inviting four of his friends to meet him in his workroom.

''They were all melancholy old creatures, who had been unfortunate in life.''

According to the doctor, none of them were happy because of the recklessness in their youth. For example, Colonel Killigrew is suffering now from the many unhealthy choices he made during his youth, and a common factor among these friends was a Lady Wycherly, who is a widow and has been shut in for years because of rumours spread about her in the town. She used to be pursued by men at the time.

Dr. Heidegger calls his friends together and asks them to participate in an experiment. He has brought a special water from the Fountain of Youth in Florida, and he demonstrates its power by bringing an old preserved rose back to bloom. His friends are shocked and in awe but skeptical but try the water anyway. It works, and as they grow younger, they begin acting like the reckless people they were in their youth, with the three men fighting over Widow Wycherly until the vase of water breaks.

Adapted from Hawthorne fan blog.


The major themes of the story are on the nature of science experiments and social affinity that inventors gained through performing or showcasing them. And man’s desire for eternal youth is a never ending and always discussed matter.



Image - Boston Public Library, Fountain of Youth, Florida, 1870 - Courtesy AmericanLiterature

Wakefield - Nathaniel Hawthorne - 189 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

Wakefield


Wakefield is a story which Hawthorne gives free rein to the reader to think and formulate ideas.

Hawthorne recollects a story featured in an old journal about a man he calls Wakefield, so the protagonist’s name here is not the real one. He narrates the story about this strange man who made a decision to go on a journey and instead moved into a nearby house.


"unheard of by his wife and friends, and without the shadow of a reason for such self-banishment, dwelt upwards of twenty years."


After twenty years, Wakefield returns home one evening. The strange thing was that his demeanor was without any expression or explanation. The narrator as well as the reader is left to contemplate why a man would abandon his home and his wife, only to take up residence in the neighborhood, where he could view his former life everyday.

Image source - Francisco Ribeiro Twitter

Even though the story does not have a plot or a climax, I feel Hawthorne leaves us to imagine and conclude with our version of not just why Wakefield did it, but also curious insights into human behaviour, alienation and marriage.

Wakefield’s behaviour
The story never fully reveals Wakefield's motives. Wakefield is not a rash man and a creature of boring and routine habit, yet he surprises himself and his neighborhood.


Solitude
The primary message of the story is the respect given to a person’s wish for solitude. The narration could have meandered into many directions and reached the destination of a climax suited to Hawthorne. But its an open-ended story, and so I would like to see the emphasis on a person’s desire to be alone - irrespective of the duration. Wakefield, in this instance, is perhaps going through marital anxiety or inability to make his wife happy and so would want a time aside and distance to sweep away the cobwebs of his life.

The Prophetic Pictures - Nathaniel Hawthorne -188 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

The Prophetic Pictures

First published in The Token and Atlantic Souvenir of 1837, this story shows a keen insight into an artist’s life, the workings of his/her mind and how the writing of Hawthorn explores the spiritual heights and depths of our human nature.
Adapted from AmerLit

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story “The Prophetic Pictures” is about a couple, Elinor and Walter, who want to get a portrait done for their upcoming wedding. They meet a painter who is famous in the city for not just the aesthetic quality of his art but also the unique trait of having an insight into his model’s minds, thoughts and being able to project the model’s future through his finished piece.

When the work is commissioned by the couple, the painter foreshadows a couple's true feelings in a portrait he made of them. The painter is said to be magical because he paints people's minds, hearts and innermost emotions in their portraits. He examines the couple and soon starts to see their phantom selves, which he projects onto their portraits; for example, on Elinor a look of grief and terror which soon resembles her own face like a mirror and the painter quietly tells the startled bride that he only paints what he truly sees when he looks past their exterior.

As time progresses, the couple get married. The painting adorns the front hall of their home. But with each passing day, as visitors come and look at the couples´ portraits, they notice a gloom on Elinor´s face in the portrait. The embarrassed wife soon covers the portraits for a few months hoping to dull the tone of the paintings but months later she sees that the painting´s gentle sorrow only deepened and even Walter´s face is now moody and dull. The couple´s features soon start to mirror their expression on their portraits and the painter watches as he sees the real people become what he painted months ago, proving correct the warning he gave to the wife about her true feeling for her husband. The story ends in a fatal way.



Artistry in the 1800s

Art in the beginning of the 1800s was still heavily commissioned by the Church or the State, that is why the themes were strictly religious. With time, artists began to make works with an uncertain future. Rather than working for the church or state, whose commissions demanded ideological and often stylistic conformity, artists had become freelance and seemingly free-spirited producers. The story reflects this professional mindset.

Adapted from britanica art forum


The story also throws light on the nature of prophetic tales and social beliefs prevalent in that era.



Illustration: "The angel Moroni delivering the plates of the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith," 1886. Credit: Library of Congress

The Gentle Boy by Nathaniel Hawthorne - 187 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

The Gentle Boy by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This tale is from the collection Twice Told tales and was first published in The Token, 1832 .It is set in 1656, during the Puritan persecution of the Quakers.

The story deals with the tragic and inhuman prejudice of the sect toward the Quaker sect.

The protagonist of the title is a young boy "Ibrahim". He is informally adopted by a simple, impoverished Puritan couple - Tobias and Dorothy - who are themselves childless. Ibrahim has lost his father, who was considered a criminal on charges of heresy of Quakerism, and whose mother was exiled to the other villages and outskirts of the community.
As the story progresses, the kindly couple nurture and take care of the child. But unfortunately, they do not get recognised for their compassion but face increasing ostracism.


Tobias and Dorothy take in the boy, a “sweet infant of the skies,” “a domesticated sunbeam” and a “victim of his own heavenly nature,” who tells tales--romances in fact. Ilbrahim was born in “pagan” Turkey and “his oriental name was a mark of gratitude for the good deeds of an unbeliever.” Hawthorne transcends his Christianity with the ironic contrast between the kindness of some Muslims and the cruelty of these Puritans, who persecute the boy. Puritan children even pelt him with stones. “The heathen savage would have given him to eat of his scanty morsel, and to drink of his birchen cup; but Christian men, alas! had cast him out to die.” The Puritans have iron hearts and turn their children into “baby-fiends” who almost beat the Christ-evoking child to death. - Adapted from AmerLit


Ibrahim too suffers bullying and on one occasion, beating from the fellow children of the community, who have been brainwashed by their parents to consider Ibrahim as not one of their own. With time, both the spirit of the child and of his enduring adoptive parents begin to break down; to their credit, they never blame the child for their misfortunes, but continue to nourish, care and adhere to their religious faith.

Tobias, however, so alienated by his fellow Puritans, decides to befriend Quakers entering the community and suffers many fines for it when he is caught sheltering them or in their company. He even covertly converts, but it is not because he believes in their tenets but because he believes there is something more deeply flawed in his own sect. The end brings a surprise that results in a profound psychological healing for the child Ibrahim, and a credible and progressive reversal (though costly in human terms) of the Puritan community's attitude toward people of the Quaker sect.

Adapted partly from - goodandshortfictiontoread blog


According to AmerLit - “The Gentle Boy” dramatizes the historical persecution of the early Quakers, who began to appear in New England in 1656. It displays most clearly two of Hawthorne’s main themes: (1) the need to balance the head and the heart; and (2) the evil of “pernicious principles” in ideologies such as Calvinism and early Quakerism that imbalance and divide the soul, leading to inhumanity and perhaps to damnation, which is “eternal alienation from the good and the true,” as exemplified by the Calvinists Young Goodman Brown, Parson Hooper and “The Man of Adamant.”


Themes

Moral sensibility
The story is a dissection of the true beliefs of the people. Whether a Puritan, Christian or a non Christian, one’s morals should always align with the spiritual teachings and not one apart from the other. Here in the story, the Puritans though professing a hardline faith, were never really practicing it.


Religious severity
There is a marked criticism of the severity and rules which one religion brings which jades its view to the world out there.


Crowd vs individual sentiment
The story shows bullying, stereotyping and pelting of stones on the innocent Ibrahim showcasing the narrow-minded and closed box concept of the community. Which is prevalent today with race, color, other religions, communities, nationalities and even new family members.


Empathy and kindness
The gentle boy deeply teaches us about the need for empathy and kindness in a world which is harsh and uncompromising.

The Minister's Black Veil - Nathaniel Hawthorne - 186 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

The Minister's Black Veil - Subtitled ‘A Parable’ is a story which originally appeared in a gift book titled The Token and Atlantic Souvenir in 1836, before being collected in Hawthorne’s short-story collection Twice-Told Tales in 1837.

image -Twice-Told Tales. Nathaniel Hawthorne. London: Frederick Warne & Co, n.d. (1880s).


It is a Gothic short story with a religious theme. A pastor Reverend Mr. Hooper, dons a black veil that obscures most of his face. The veil in Christian practice is worn by women mostly during weddings and otherwise during a funeral. But here it shows the attitudes of the people towards a very distinguished activity of a male pastor. The story portrays concepts of human sin and perceptions towards someone who does something different. The piece of black cloth is a symbolic representation of the sins people hide from one another. The sins come between a person and the rest of the world.


The story focuses on a minister in a New England parish. The story is thought to be set in the first half of the eighteenth century, before the so-called Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, when American pastors and church leaders put a lot of importance on individual sin and the need for redemption.


The story begins on a Sunday in a small village named Milford. The sexton — a church officer who is responsible for the upkeep of the building and grounds — is ringing the church bell, signifying the beginning of Sunday service. Reverend Mr. Hooper appears, and the members of the congregation are alarmed by his appearance. He is wearing a black veil made of crape, which is a fabric traditionally used for mourning garments. The veil remains on his face, not showing him or his expression and neither an explanation comes forward from him. Afterward, people gather outside to gossip about the Reverend's mysterious veil. When he comes out, he behaves normally, greeting people and placing his hand on children to bless them, but he is shunned by his parishioners. In the course of time he becomes a subject of gossip among the congregation , the villagers, Church deputies and even his fiance Elizabeth deserts him.

In the afternoon, the church holds a funeral service for a young woman, and there is a wedding that night. Mr. Hooper continues to wear the veil, and he pretends not to notice the reactions of the congregation.


Image - “the children fled from his approach.”

Artist: Elenore Abbott

Years pass on thus and for the rest of his life, Mr. Hooper refuses to take off the veil. Even on his deathbed, when he is asked by a fellow clergyman to remove the barrier, Mr. Hooper vehemently refuses. He holds the veil tight to his face, crying out to his onlookers, asking them why everyone is so scared of him. Everyone has secret sins they are hiding; everyone is wearing a black veil.

This bizarre story was apparently inspired from a real event. In a footnote, Hawthorne explains that Mr. Joseph Moody, who lived in Maine, also wore a veil, though unlike Reverend Hooper, the protagonist of Hawthorne’s story, he did as atonement for accidentally killing one of his friends.

Themes

Crowd mentality
The close knit community of the village Milford is a symbol of how the world looks at anyone different as incompatible and mismatching. Even though the reverend was a beloved member of the parish as well as the village, the day he donned the veil he was shunned without trying to understand him or empathizing or even knowing the facts.



Puritans attitude
The classic novels of the West will all have a plot or a note based on this theme.
The Puritans were a Christian Protestant sect that emerged in the early 1600s in England. They were quickly banished from the country for their “subversive” beliefs, leading Puritan “pilgrims” to travel to America and establish small colonies in the region that’s still called New England.

Hawthorne paints an insightful and contradictory picture of early American Puritanism. Hooper becomes a successful Puritan priest in part because Puritanism is based on the fear of sin and damnation. Thus, Hooper’s frightening appearance is a useful teaching tool, showing the people of Milford what awaits them if they sin. By showing Hooper’s influence on the New England government’s legislation, he suggests the lasting influence that the Puritans had on the United States. At the same time, Hawthorne questions and critiques Puritanism: for a community to be so easily swayed by an article of clothing is proof of its overreliance on routines and appearances.



Sin
Hooper believes that everyone lives in a state of sin, inherited from Adam and Eve. He explains this on his deathbed, saying that everyone wears a “black veil.” But the black veil over his own head could symbolize a specific sin he’s committed, or it could be a teaching tool that represents his inherent evilness as a human being.

"The Minister's Black Veil", as it first appeared in 1836

The Gray Champion - Nathaniel Hawthorne - 185 / 365 of reading one short story every day.

About the author



Image -  Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). American writer. Hawthorne in the year 'The Scarlet Letter' was published. Stipple engraving, 19th century, by T. Phillibrown after a painting, 1850, by Cephas G. Thompson.


Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts The place and its colonial history would go on to be a major influence in his writings.

Some of his major themes were Colonial history, Puritan tradition, transcendentalism, Religious hypocrisy and patriotism. He was popularly known as the Dark romantic because he incorporated gloomy, guilt trapping topics in his stories. Dead fallen heroes, patriotic heroes, characters with a dubious past, long lost lovers etc were the regular features of his stories. Add to this the fact that the company he kept also inspired and influenced him in his writing. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future president Franklin Pierce were his close friends. Transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were his friends later in life, and fellow Dark Romantic writer Edgar Allan Poe wrote great reviews of his books.


His popular works were American stories and novels, including “Young Goodman Brown” (1835), Twice-Told Tales (1837), “Ethan Brand” (1850), The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), and The Blithedale Romance (1852).

He died on May 19, 1864

The Gray Champion - From Twice-Told Tales -1837

A patriotic story by Nathaniel Hawthorne written in 1835. This story shows one man standing up for what is right against unbeatable odds. Portraying a love for one's nation, the story shows that America is a land where the people embarked against oppressive chains of an abusive monarchy and pushed for equal opportunities for all.


The year is 1686. King James II is on the throne of England and has converted the country back to Catholicism. Back in America, the king appoints Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of New England. In doing so, he retracts the old agreements that allowed the new colony to govern itself. The colonists become upset at the continuous abuse of their rights.

By April, 1689, King James has become very unpopular and loses the throne. His daughter and her husband, William Prince of Orange, assume the throne. Hawthorne's story depicts Boston just days before King James loses power in England.

The public is restless against the oppressive rule of the governor, Sir Edmund. He marches his redcoats through Boston as a show of strength to dissuade a revolution.
The beloved ex-Governor Bradstreet, a 90 year old man, pleads with the crowd. He asks that they ''do nothing rashly. Cry not aloud, but pray for the welfare of New-England.''


The soldiers march on and some on horseback. Sir Edmund is in the center of it all, his closest advisors surrounding him. The presence of a Catholic clergyman in redcoat, is a symbol of the persecution that drove the Puritans out of England years before.

One citizen cries out, asking the Lord to ''provide a Champion for thy people!'' An old, bearded man, dressed in old-fashioned, gray clothes, emerges from the crowd - the gray champion. He walks in the center of the street, approaching the redcoats head on. The younger men ask their fathers who this old man is. No one can recall.

Twenty yards away from the soldiers, the bearded man stops and holds his staff before him like a weapon. He stands up straight with great dignity, and yells out one word: ''Stand!'' He is so authoritative that the drums hush, and the advancing line stops.

Sir Edmund and his advisors are appalled that some old man stopped his men. He cries out that they will march on and the old man can ''stand aside or be trampled on!''

After an inspiring and roaring speech which fills the people with zeal and ready to fight, Sir Edmund sees the wrath of the people and eyes the old man. He orders his soldiers to retreat. That night the people hear that King James is no longer on the throne. Sir Edmund and his men are imprisoned.


Themes

Patriotism
The story is outrightly a call for one to shed forceful and puritan rule and embrace freedom. Set at a time when English monarchy was highly protested by people, the story harks to the days when honor and self worth of the people lay in the nation and not within themselves.


Religious freedom
The story starts with a brief account of English reformation when England had driven out the Papal authority and converted to Protestant church. But this is not so much about a specific church or group but to do with religious freedom that people wanted - choosing a way and form of worship.