Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts. When he was four years old, his father died of yellow fever, forcing his family to move in with his uncle. The positively influential Uncle Robert Manning pushed Hawthorne to do well in school and insisted that he go to college. After graduating from Bowdoin College, Hawthorne spent years in seclusion mastering the art of writing. It was during these years that Hawthorne discovered that his ancestors were the Puritan founders and leaders of the Salem witch trials. Shortly after this tragic discovery, he wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” a tale considered one of the greatest in American literature. Analyzing Nathaniel Hawthorne's work from a moral perspective can help illuminate his short story: "Young Goodman Brown." Hawthorne was both proud and embarrassed by the actions of his ancestors. According to Jacqueline Shoemaker, Hawthorne felt proud to see his own family's history in Salem and its importance and accomplishments which greatly overshadowed the decline in fortunes of later generations (Shoemaker). However, after the discovery of his ancestors' association with the immoral prosecutions of Quakers during the Salem witch trials, Hawthorne's feelings of embarrassment began to outweigh his feelings of pride. Hawthorne's ancestors were not only part of the immoral Salem witch trials, but they were also their leaders; they were responsible for the massacre of many innocent men and women in the late 1600s. Nina Baym states that despite being guilty of his ancestors' actions, Hawthorne changed his last name from "Hathorne" to "Hawthorne" "as a gesture of separation from the people who judged them who had hung witches and wanted nothing to do with his mother. ..... middle of paper ......iel. The scarlet letter. New York: PenguinClassics, 2002. Guerin, Wilfred L., Earle G. Labor, Lee Morgan, and John R. Willingham. A handbook of critical approaches to literature. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1966. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Literature: a pocket anthology. RS Gwynn. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. 28-33. Kant, Immanuel. "Awareness." Introduction to Great Books 3. Introduction to Great Books. Chicago: The Great Books Foundation, 1990. 93. Levy, Leo B. “The Problem of Faith in “Young Goodman Brown.” » Modern Critical Views: Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. 117.Shoemaker, Jacqueline “Hawthorne's Kingdom of Morality.” Biographical contexts for "YoungGoodman Brown". July 27, 1998. November 27, 2011 wohlpart/alra/hawthorne.htm#a pink Ribbon>.