Nathaniel Hawthorne's neutrality and use of railroads as a literary device

Painting of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I focused on Nathaniel Hawthorne from the article "The Transcendental Railroad" by G. Ferris Cronkhite.  While all three authors (Emerson, Thoreau and Hawthorn) regard the railroad as significant and an inspiration to their work, Hawthorn is unique because he "completely subdued the railroad to the literary task at hand" (347).  Throughout all of Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing, he focuses and the symbolism and imagery provided by the railroads.

While Hawthorne was neutral on the subject of railroads, he had a clear opinion on pilgrimages.  Hawthorne believed that if their were pilgrimages in America, they would probably take place via stagecoach or rail car.  These pilgrims would have "earthly cares" instead of the "heavenly meditations" gained by traveling on foot through the countryside.  

Nathaniel Hawthorne contrasts these two different categories of pilgrimages in "The Celestial Railroad".  This work satirizes transcendentalism and the new liberal theology of Unitarians (which disregarded the Calvanistic idea of sin and instead proposed universal salvation).  Christian, a character in the story, gains heavenly meditations by traveling on foot.  However, his sufferings are glossed over to focus on a train ride of the narrator to Celestial City.  On this train ride, passengers disregard their concerns and baggage to subjects of Beezlebub which attend to baggage, fuel and firebox of the train.  Through suggestions of ominous imagery, it is revealed at the end that the true destination of the train is not Celestial City but to the River of Death and onward to Hell itself.

While the article "The Transcendental Railroad" regards Nathanial Hawthorn as neutral, I believe that he is also concerned with railroads as a symptom of man's materialistic interests and values.  Although "The Celestial Railroad" is a work of satire, it expresses Hawthorne's opinion on salvation, that a true pilgrim must gain "heavenly inspirations" impossible to obtain by traveling in a train car.