Hawthorne spoke of telling secrets in his works, but "keeping the in most me behind it's veil". Close friend and respected author of the time Herman Melville believed that there was a dark secret in Hawthorne's life that, if known, would explain the mysteries of his literary career. (McGoldrick 82)

Sibling incest was a theme that heavily concerned Hawthorne in two unfinished manuscripts, as well as one of his ea

I know not whether these ancestors of mine bethought themselves to repent, and ask pardon of Heaven for their cruelties; or whether they are now groaning under the heavy consequences of them, in another state of being. At all events, I, the present writer, as their representative, hereby take shame upon myself for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by them--as I have heard, and as the dreary and unprosperous condition of the race, for many a long year back, would argue to exist--may be now and henceforth removed (Hawthorne: Introduction to The Scarlet Letter).

Perhaps the work of Hawthorne that foremost signifies the family systems theory is The House of Seven Gables. In this work of literature we are able to see Hawthorne's literary interpretation of his immediate family with respect to consequence for his ancestors actions. All the behavioral irregularities of Hawthorne's ancestors are expressed through the deterioration of the Pycheons who are the fictional interpretation of Hawthorne's family. The mother of the family is in self-seclusion, the father had left the family, and the two younger siblings were extremely close with suggestion of incest.

Taking into account all of the examples supporting Hawthorne's literature being spawned from the theory of family systems, I believe Nathaniel Hawthorne suffered numerous behavioral irregularities with in his family structure which served as a driving force in his writing. All the sins, secret, and guilt past from generation to generation weighed heavily on Hawthorne, and he used that to create the guilt filled novels thick with allegory that has made him know as one of America's

As the Pyncheons in The House of Seven Gables, Hawthorne took it upon himself to bear his ancestor's guilt, and he displayed the inherited guilt and sin through his literary works.

The plot of the novel is based on the curse pronounced by Hawthorne's family by a woman condemned to death by judge Hathorne, Hawthorne's ancestor, during the Salem Witch Trials. The curse is mirrored in the decay of the Pycheon family structure along with the family's seven gabled mansion. Finally a descendent of the killed woman marries a family member and the hereditary sin ends.

The Scarlet Letter was only intended to be a short story, but the extra money a novel would bring in was needed (Hawthorne "Introduction" XVI). Hawthorne then wrote an introduction section titled "The Custom House" to extend the length of the book and The Scarlet Letter became a full novel (XVI).

Throughout the night, Brown gained more knowledge than he ever wished to obtain about how his fellow Puritan townsmen have betrayed their faith by giving in to their dark desires. At the conclusion of Hawthorne's novel all that Young Goodman Brown learns in the night is too much for him, and it changes him from a devoted husband, bright with hope with a wife whom he loves, to a tired, beaten, and faithless man.

Coincidentally, the section of the plot dealing with heredity also coincides with a branch of the family systems theory not yet heavily explored. It has been theorized that behavioral irregularities are past down from generation to generation through genetics. So, Hawthorne's plot also agrees with the theory that through time behavioral irregularity dwindles after numerous generations have past (Bowen Family Evaluation).

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Approximate Word count = 2525
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)