Beginning of Essay
In some way or another, our past, the traditions passed down through our ancestors, and the values instilled in us by our parents, affect our own minds and perceptions of the world. We may choose to pass on these traditions or reject them for new ones, but the p ....

Middle of Essay
.... What seems most imteresting in Hawthorne’s texts is the wrestling between two belief systems. On the one hand, Puritanism bestows doctrine which valued the greater moral good of the community over an individual’s well-being. In this sense, the community/society remains the central voice over any individual’s thoughts and/or feelings. Puritans believe that humans are born sinners, enslaved by evil, and therefore, predestined in the eyes of God. God is the center of all, who chooses the elected few to be saved, so everyone must contribute to a moral well-being of the community in order to ensure that those elected few will remain pure ....