Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
2-11-2026
Department 1
First Year Seminar
Department 2
English
Abstract
This project analyzes how Nathaniel Hawthorne’s A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (1851) socialized young American readers by immersing them in a fictitious New England Utopia. While some scholars assert that Wonder Book represents a shift from the didactic nature of nineteenth century children's literature to a style that prioritized entertainment and fostered imaginative play, Hawthorne’s rewriting, or rather his desecration, of six classic Greek Myths certainly had moral undertones that reaffirmed a simplistic Puritan ideal: a pure relationship with the Christian God, women embracing the ideology of the cult of domesticity and staying out of the political sphere, and a unified American culture. Situated within the historical context of the Antebellum Era– an era defined by a divisive national climate and social and political movements– Hawthorne’s literary decisions ultimately reflect a desire to preserve children’s innocence by shielding them from the complexities and “chaos” of the time; he does this successfully, but at what cost?
Copyright Note
This is the author’s work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College’s institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Russo, Vanessa, "A Godless Greek Mythology: The Desecration of Greek Mythology for Children" (2026). CAFE Symposium 2026. 8.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cafe2026/8
Included in
Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons
Comments
This poster was created based on work for FYS-W 124- Curiouser and Curiouser: Children's Literature and the Invention of the Modern Child and presented as a part of the eleventh annual CAFE Symposium on February 11, 2026.