The Birthmark Relate Nathaniel Hawthornes biography to the allegorical story the birthmark Nathaniel Hathorn was born on July 4 1804 in Salem Massachusetts where his birthplace is now a museum His grandfather John Hathorne was one of the judges who oversaw the Salem Witch Trials Having learned about this Nathaniel Hawthorne added the w to his surname in his early twenties because he was trying to dissociate himself from his ancestor Hawthorne wrote in the comparative obscurity of what he called
The way in which any story is told and who tells it can be an extremely influential part of the narrative More than simply whether or not the reader can trust the narrator to tell the truth without a bias the narrative lens can entirely shape the way in which the world is viewed The most interesting narrator as well as the most suspicious is the narrator who is also a character an active participant in the action of the story In such a case the narrator legitimately has both intimate and limite