What is considered evil? Is a person really always bad? If so, what led you to take this path? Could it be a life-changing event or the influence of another outside force? Anti-transcendentalists believed in this presence of evil in humanity and its predominance in the lives of individuals. The anti-transcendentalists were the opposite of the transcendentalists in terms of their overall outlook on life. Transcendentalists believed in goodness or, in other words, positive outlooks in life. The Black Romantics, as anti-transcendentalists, were sometimes considered extremely popular in the mid-1800s. This saw the rise of many prominent anti-transcendentalist writers, not only in America but abroad . The Black Romantics used symbolism in their literary works to show the prevalence of evil in society, contrary to transcendentalist beliefs. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an active anti-transcendentalist, whose stories pitted individuals against society. Hawthorne was one of several Black Romantics well known for their comprehensive use of symbolism. One such example comes from The Sca...