This excerpt from "Ethan Brand's Homecoming" published in New Essays on
Hawthorne 's Major Tales, edited by Millicent Bell, Rita K. Gollin addresses
Brand's homecoming and the irony of the theme for Hawthorne's life.
When Hawthorne wrenched 'Ethan Brand' out of himself, he did so by imposing
on it circularities of plot, setting, and even logic that together constitute
an ironic discourse on homecoming. From start to finish, the story interrogates
sentimental concepts of home sweet home, and displaces them (90-91). (courtesy
of Cambridge University Press)
