Hawthorne, an heir and critic of the Puritan tradition, wrote $quot;The Gentle Boy$quot; as an imaginative atonement for the role his ancestor, William Hawthorne, played in the Puritan persecution of Quakers. To understand this work properly, therefore, we must understand the religious beliefs of New England Puritans and the background of their persecution of Quakers. The Puritans believed in the Calvinistic doctrines of total depravity and predestination of humankind. Through their beliefs in their own Election by the Covenant of Grace with God, they became overly self-righteous, regarding others as the unregenerated. They thought that the Lord had ovbiously chosen them to carry out His plans for the redemption of the world. The Puritan persecution of the Quakers in New England started when Mary Fisher and Anne Austin appeared in the Puritan community for the purpose of preaching their creed in 1656. The Quakers` theology centered upon their $quot;inner light.$quot; Thus, they completely disregarded the Puritan`s darker Calvinistic dogmas and the power of the clergy within the Church Covenants. The cruel persecution of the Quakers by the Puritans is all too well-known in our own era, but many readers are surprised that such atrocities occured in North America, all in the name of God. Puritans cut the Quakers` ears off, bored their tongues through with a hot iron and even put them to death. But subjecting the Quakers to harsh $quot;The Gentle Boy persecution, the Puritan leaders thought that they were perfoming a most unpleasant but necessary task because they believed that they were carrying out the divine will. Exqusitely structured, $quot;The Gentle Boy$quot; begins with a crying little boy whose father was hanged by the Puitans and ends with the boy`s own death. Its mood is sympathetic to the Quakers who condemned the Puritan`s harsh religious persecution.