Book For The Week - 12/15/2010

The House Of

The Seven Gables

by

Nathaniel

Hawthorn

“The wrongdoing of one generation lives into the successive ones and… becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief.” Hawthorne’s moral for “The House of the Seven Gables,” taken from the Preface, accurately presages his story. The full weight of the gloomy mansion of the title seems to sit on the fortunes of the Pyncheon family. An ancestor took advantage of the Salem witch trials to wrest away the land whereon the house would be raised… but the land’s owner, about to be executed as a wizard, cursed the Pyncheon family until such time as they should make restitution.

Now, almost two centuries later, the family is in real distress. Hepzibah, an old maid and resident of the house, is forced by advanced poverty to open a shop in a part of the house. Her brother Clifford has just been released from prison after serving a thirty-year sentence for murder, and his mind struggles to maintain any kind of hold on reality. Cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon is making himself odious by threatening to have Clifford committed to an institution. And after all these years, the deed to a vast tract of land, that would settle great wealth on the family, is still missing.

One bright ray of sunshine enters the house when cousin Phoebe arrives for an extended stay to allow unhappy matters in her end of the family to sort themselves out. While she lightens the lives of Hepzibah and Clifford, she also attracts the attention of a mysterious lodger named Holgrave, who has placed himself near the Pyncheon family for reasons that only come clear at the end of the story.

The real crisis arrives when the Judge, who strongly resembles the Colonel Pyncheon who built the house so many years ago, steps up his demands on Hepzibah and Clifford and unwittingly triggers the curse. (Summary by Mark F. Smith)

(As I have mentioned before in prior blogs and as I have posted in the photo album that can be found HERE, one of the places Peggy and I visited on our trip to the Boston area this past fall was the house that is believed to be the home that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his novel "The House Of Seven Gables".   Although as a teen I read "The Scarlet Letter"  by Nathaniel Hawthorne and remember enjoying it,  I had never read "The House of Seven Gables".  After touring the house,  I promised myself that I would.  I finished listening to it on audio today and really enjoyed the story.  The old fashioned language of Hawthorne makes it all the more special and delightful.  I was able to remember the house from my visit as I listened to the descriptions of scenes in the story.  This really made the book come to life for me.  Hawthorne's moral being that Karma follows from generation to generation is an interesting one and would be a topic that warrants discussion to see what others think.  I can totally understand why this book has been studied in many classrooms.  Please click on the title and author's name to learn more.  I highly recommend this book.)