Updike and Hawthorne: Autobiography in American Literature
This paper examines the lives and selected works of John Updike and Nathaniel Hawthorne, two prominent figures in American literature. It explores how each author's personal struggles — Updike's health problems and marital separation, and Hawthorne's Puritanical ancestry and financial hardship — shaped their fiction. Through close readings of Updike's "Separating" and Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," the paper argues that both authors drew heavily on autobiographical experience to produce works rich in imagery, guilt, self-doubt, and the dualistic nature of human existence.
- Introduction: Two Giants of American Literature: Shared themes of struggle and autobiographical writing
- John Updike: Life and Literary Career: Updike's biography, education, and publishing career
- Updike's 'Separating': Imagery and the Human Condition: Divorce, imagery, and autobiographical tension in Separating
- Nathaniel Hawthorne: Life and Literary Career: Hawthorne's life, poverty, Puritanism, and major works
- Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown': Puritanism and Guilt: Puritan doctrine and guilt in Young Goodman Brown
- Conclusions: Autobiography and Enduring Legacy: Both authors' autobiographical legacy in American literature
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What makes this paper effective
- Maintains a consistent comparative framework, returning to shared themes — guilt, self-doubt, autobiographical influence — across both authors rather than treating them in complete isolation.
- Anchors biographical detail to textual evidence, connecting Hawthorne's Puritan ancestry directly to the devil's speech in "Young Goodman Brown" and Updike's divorce to the emotional landscape of "Separating."
- Uses brief but precise quotation to support analytical claims, demonstrating how to integrate primary source material at the undergraduate level.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates parallel biographical-literary analysis: it introduces each author's life circumstances, then traces how those circumstances manifest as specific textual choices. This technique shows readers that literary criticism can move productively between an author's biography and the symbolic or thematic content of individual works.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a shared introduction establishing common themes, then divides into two author-focused sections, each containing a biographical overview followed by a close reading of one representative story. A concluding section draws the two authors back together, reinforcing the central argument about autobiographical writing. This symmetrical structure makes the comparison easy to follow and replicates a standard comparative-essay format appropriate for undergraduate literary studies.
Introduction: Two Giants of American Literature
John Updike and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two of the most well-known writers to have contributed to the body of American literature. Updike, the more recent of the two, has been considered one of America's most prestigious writers, often honored by collegiate bodies and authoritative figures. Likewise, Nathaniel Hawthorne was recognized and respected in his own time, having come from a background commanding some social standing. Both authors, however, struggled with negative personal circumstances during their lives. Updike, for example, struggled with health problems that plagued him since childhood as well as the pain of marital separation. Hawthorne struggled with an ancestry that embodied a rigid Puritanical belief system and also struggled with his family's poverty, a condition he was never quite able to overcome during his lifetime.
The works of both Updike and Hawthorne tend to carry autobiographical notes, with each author drawing from experiences within his own life. Negativity, feelings of guilt, insecurity, self-doubt, and even the dualistic nature of human beings — the capacity to live both a positive and a negative existence — are examined by both authors in their work. These ideas are explored in greater detail below, with special emphasis on two select stories by each author.
Works Cited
De Bellis, Jack. The John Updike Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press, Westport, 2000.
Farr, J. "Haunted Hawthorne." The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 28, Winter 2004.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." 1835. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Lexington: Heath, 1944. 2129–38.
Jalic, LLC. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Jalic, LLC. 2004.
Liukkonen, P. "John H. Updike." Books and Writers. 2002.
McCabe, M. "The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown.'"
Searles, G. "John Updike." N.d.
Tharpe, J. Nathaniel Hawthorne: Identity and Knowledge. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 1967.
Updike, John. "Separating." The Longman Anthology of Short Story Fiction: Stories and Authors in Context. Eds. Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn. New York: Longman, 2001. 1652–1660.
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