Excerpt from "Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Morning of His Life His Boyhood Years and Emergence as an Artist Part One. Images: The Worlds of Hawthorne's Childhood" by Dr. Melinda Ponder, September, 1981, an essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's degree in American Studies at Boston College (courtesy of Dr. Melinda Ponder)
On Nathaniel’s arrival at his Uncle Richard’s house in Raymond, Maine
“Nathaniel could see that Uncle Richard's house was very different
from his Grandfather Manning's austere and functional house in crowded, noisy
Salem. Richard had succeeded in creating a home filled with grace and beauty
in the midst of a vast land being cleared for farms--a home which would have
appealed to Nathaniel. Always fascinated by architectural structures, he would
later write wonderfully detailed descriptions of interior spaces which help
situate his ‘romances’ in a tangible world. He also felt that houses could embody
the qualities of the people they sheltered, likening the weathered house which
takes on a central symbolic role in The House of the Seven Gables to
a human face. ‘The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like
a human countenance bearing the traces not merely of outward storm and sunshine,
but expressive also, of the long lapse of mortal life and accompanying vicissitudes
that have passed within.’”
