Hawthorne states in his preface that "the wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones, and, divesting itself of every temporary advantage, becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief." Consider all the bad things that have happened to the Pyncheons since their ancestor Colonel Pyncheon caused the hanging of Matthew Maule in order to seize his property. Are these things the result of the Maule curse, or can each unfortunate event be attributed to an expression of the same greed that motivated the Colonel Pyncheon? The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of the ancient Pyncheon family, and their struggles with the curse that has plagued them for generations. This supposed curse is said to have been placed on their ancestor, Colonel Pyncheon, by a man named Matthew Maule, in his final words just before being hanged on the …show more content…
If the latter is true, then one cannot hold any Pyncheon particularly responsible for the misfortunes that befall them, for the curse that has surrounded them their entire life seems inescapable. On the other hand, if their misfortunes are actually a result of their ancestral greed, then there is some blame to be placed on many – though perhaps not all – of the family members who have met with adversity in their lives. There is substantial evidence for both possibilities, and many believe that it is either one or the other that is the true origin of the sorrows of the Pyncheon family. I believe that in reality, it is their own hereditary greed in combination with their fear of Maule’s curse that has brought these various afflictions upon
In this literary analysis I am going to discuss how Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon and all generations leading back to Colonel Pyncheon were affected by greed and how it carried through each generation. Additionally, I will provide a little background on both Judge Pyncheon and Colonel Pyncheon, and discuss what I think of Maule’s curse and how the curse affected the future generations in any known way. The greed of the Pyncheon family influenced each generation up to Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. The Pyncheon family desired property Matthew Maule had owned, so much so that Littles 2 Colonel Pyncheon had made accusations that Maule was a witch.
The worst bearing of both Rowlandson and Equiano has to face was being separated from their own love ones. Rowlandson was separated from her family and relations when her village was attacked then eventually lost her only child that was with her. Nevertheless, Equiano also endured tormented pain when he was parted from his sister while she was the only comfort to him at once. He was a young boy in a fearful atmosphere with nothing to convey a positive perspective. “It was vain that [they] besought than not to part us; she was torn from [him], and immediately carried away, while [he] was left in a state of distraction not to be describe”.
Thesis: Frederick Exley ruins his entire life (or at least the section we read about in the book) by his own accord. The general intent of my paper will describe the relationship between Frederick Exley and self-pity. In other words, what I hope to demonstrate in my analysis is that Exley did, in fact, ruin everything good that happened to him, rather than it being fate or others that caused his life to be in such shambles. I will highlight sections of the book that are pertinent to my thesis and use chosen sources to prove my thesis.
During the time at which the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was written, people were help to higher standards regarding what was viewed as acceptable in a society, mostly shown through religious moral standards. Hawthorne was also able to show the effects of guilt specifically during that time, following a sin that was seen as completely unacceptable in this society, and how it would affect someone in their life, especially if kept private. Hawthorne uses literary devices to show how private guilt causes more personal damage than public guilt and how it can become an everlasting punishment. Through the use of diction, Hawthorne is able to show how private guilt causes more personal damage and can have a great internal punishment
"No thought of revenge or of parents, only of bread." and "no trace of revenge" (pg.115) Therefore showing how low their standards of freedom are by providing emphasis on the fact that there is no thought of vengeance or reunion only on something so taken for granted, one is able to see their
H “Expectations is the root of all heartache.” - William Shakespeare. The short story “Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst explores how the protagonist, Doodle copes with the expectations his family have set on him; precisely his elder brother. Throughout this short story, Hurst demonstrates the substantial effect expectation has on individual and society themselves. He shows how pressurizing a person for self-satisfaction harms the offender as well.
Have you ever been ashamed of who your family is or the role they played in your life? Well, in the short story The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, there is a conflict about a the narrator, who is brother in the story. He feels that he is to be blamed for the tragic incident of his little brother Doodle. You will soon learn the concept of family being valued. Family is a gift that will last forever, even when you think you have lost it.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a famous American author from the antebellum period, notices the emphasis on individual freedoms in the works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalists during his residency in the Brook Farm’s community. In response to these ideas, Hawthorne writes The Scarlet Letter, a historical novel about Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s lives as they go through ignominy, penance, and deprecation from their Puritan community to express their strong love for each other. Their love, even though it is true, is not considered as holy nor pure because of Hester past marriage to Roger Chillingworth, and thus Hester gained the Scarlet Letter for being an adulterer. Hawthorne utilizes biblical allusions, such as the stories of
In the story, the protagonist Winifred explains about her past experiences with her elder brother Zachary from her early years of admiration to her later years facing the similar circumstances of her brother with her youngest daughter Stephanie. During her younger years, Winifred admired her eldest brother and appeared as an obedient slave to him. Later on, however, she then faces with the disillusionment as her brother’s habits are warped to extreme measures such as smoking and drinking which later accumulates to the sorrow that she and her family faced from losing their youngest daughter Lizzie to leukemia. The death also strikes a permanent blow on Zachary, who later leaves the family due to his strained relationship with his
By negatively depicting the Puritans with his depressing diction, Hawthorne establishes a scornful tone that highlights the Puritan’s
You Be The Judge: An Investigation of Facade in “The House of Seven Gables” Self-awareness allows one to understand their own flaws and shortcomings. The ability to assess one’s weaknesses in character allows for reflection introspectively, creating valuable realizations about one’s own identity. However, some members of society lack this innate ability, rendering them unable to understand their own corruption. In an excerpt of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The House of Seven Gables,” the narrator crafts the appearance of morality in Judge Pyncheon, constructing the illusion of respectability, then increasingly displays contempt of the dark reality that “some one wrong act” truly defines Pyncheon’s character.
The novel presents the reader what seems to be a normal family, with their characteristics of how much they would do to have a happy life with each other. The reader may think otherwise and say the family is definitely not a happy family. The novel can be challenged by the fact the Lohman family is anti-family. A big event causes a secret to be brought to the Lohman family, and whether or not if they should tell someone and ruin their happy family, or protect themselves. Paul Lohman the main
Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the first great American writers and author of The Scarlet Letter, is credited with saying that “families are always rising and falling in America.” He is saying that families have ups and downs all throughout their lives. This quote applies to The Scarlet Letter on a smaller scale in the sense that people are always rising and falling in Puritan Society. The rises and falls are often shaped by outside influences and can be internalized. Dimmesdale, for instance, faces many falls, not by the public, but by his own emotions.
I want to explain why the actions the Pyncheons are taking are affecting their life, I will talk about who have greed and and why, along with examples, also how pride is tied with greed. I will explain why the unfortunate events are happening to the Pyncheons, either if it's witchcraft or greed, along with coincidence of course. Considering I don't believe in witchcraft, I would assume that it was greed that drove the Colonel to hang Maule, because he wanted the land that belonged to the Maules, and all of the male Pyncheon part of the family deaths were caused by a real disease, just a pure coincidence, not a curse. Greed ran in the Pyncheon family, which was tearing the family apart slowly; considering this, greed would ultimately doom the Pyncheon family. A seemingly coincidental thing between the story and Hawthorne, the fact that the Pyncheons murdered a “witch” and after Maule died terrible
Puritans felt redemption could not be achieved because the sins were so wrong and so evil. Hawthorne used redemption to help develop the characters and the ideas the reader had on them. The whole book happened because of a sin that occurred, and that sin was the cause of many actions of the characters. Throughout “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne