Summary Of ' Wives Of The Dead '

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories are strongly developed around his unique and powerful use of physical setting. Often the location and the time of day of the story speak as much -- if not more -- of the plot, giving a deeper meaning then just the outside world. However, this emphasis on the physical setting is not always present, as in “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Instead, Hawthorne here used primarily the psychological setting of the characters (and most of all with Parson Hooper) to create this masterpiece work that creates just as much an impact - if not more so -- than any physical setting could ever achieve. Hawthorne’s gift as a writer who knew the power of darkness is evident in his short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He published his first novel Fanshawe, in 1828. However, he is widely known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, can be analyzed from historical, psychological and feminist critical perspectives by examining his life from the past, as well as his reflections while writing The Scarlet Letter. In order to understand the book properly, it’s necessary to use these three perspectives.

When we have strong love for others, we take risks, we go against our beliefs, we put ourselves in danger, and we let our loved ones go. Without love, there would be none of that. In this book, The Dead and the Gone, written by Susan Beth Pfeffer, a comet smashes the moon closer to earth and it creates all sorts of problems. Alex, a teenage boy with two sisters, starts a long journey of survival and risks. This story is so realistic, at times was hard to read. You start to ask yourself these tough questions, like what you would do in a specific situation. Through out the whole story, love is definitely a recurring theme. It shows you how well love can hold a family is distress together.

While many women fulfilled their "responsibilities", a large number of women responded to this attempt to define and limit their roles with their own literature and work in the feminist movement”(Ewell). So we are now thinking that Mrs. Mallard was unhappy in her marriage because behind closed doors she now expresses how she really feels, it says “she could see in the open square before her house the tops of the trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air…”(p.496). At this point of the story begins to twist, something completely different than the reader expected to happen! So we now come to understand that Mrs. Mallard is actually feeling like new human being, she is being reborn. She is now seeing everything in a whole new way now that her husband has passed she is now free, free of her husband’s shadow. In the same sense we can easily interpret that winter, meaning her husband has died and spring meaning her freedom is yet to come and has now been reborn. In the story Mrs. Mallard is standing before an opened window, an open window may mean several things I interpret it as being vulnerable since she was in despair but it may also symbolize many opportunities for her

The power of the story has been very much a part of the lives of humans throughout time. The story is able to bring the past to the present and the dead to the living. The story can make the blind see. The story is able to make others feel for events in time that they have never experienced. The story has a profound effect on both the teller and the audience. As the audience is thought to be the beneficiary or the storytelling process, the teller is able to relive the times of old, or even teach a valuable lesson to his or her audience. Thus, allowing both parties to gain something intangible throughout this process. In “The Lives of the Dead,” O’Brien conveys the importance of storytelling and imagination by suggesting that the dead can be brought back to life in the minds of the people who hear it.

Hawthorne describes a cold and gray day.  This description gives the reader a sense of isolation as well as slight depression.  However, the mention of a slight breeze that ruffles the canopy of the forest just enough to let in little flickers of sunshine conveys a fleeting ray of hope that seems to coexist with the gloominess in the scene.  In many scenes during the book, moods or prevailing feelings are established through descriptions of the natural surroundings of the characters.  This aspect of Hawthorne's writing makes the book deeper and more emotional.

This apprises the reader on how Margaret is kinda being bi-polar and how she just faked the whole thing about her being sad. By her crying, she indirectly professes that she cares about her husband but in reality she’s a brutal women who does really care about him.

In “The Story of an Hour” we see Mrs. Louise Mallard receives news of the death of her husband. The

As the women walk through the house, they begin to get a feel for what Mrs. Wright’s life is like. They notice things like the limited kitchen space, the broken stove, and the broken jars of fruit and begin to realize the day-to-day struggles that Mrs. Wright endured. The entire house has a solemn, depressing atmosphere. Mrs. Hale regretfully comments that, for this reason and the fact that Mr. Wright is a difficult man to be around, she never came to visit her old friend, Mrs. Wright.

“What a strange, sad man is he!” said the child, as if speaking partly to herself. “In the dark night-time, he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine... And in the deep forest, where only the old trees can hear, and the strip of sky see it, he talks with thee...And he kisses my forehead...But, here, in the sunny day, and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him!” (Hawthorne

In this reading, the narrator talks about the reaction of Mrs. Millard who had heart problems, when she notices of her husband´s death. Louise Mallard is at home with her sister Josephine, when they hear of a rain accident; then Josephine tells Louise that her husband has been killed it in the accident.

First of all, these three short stores deal with nature and science, but when one delves deeper into the stories, it becomes apparent that Hawthorne actually explores relationships among family members. These three works of writing portray Hawthorne’s thematic writing

When he had gone as far as the meeting-house, he looked back and saw that she was still looking after him – with a melancholy air. He chided himself, “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!” Yet he, in his prioritizing, gave her a back seat to his wishes and continued on his way. When into the dense forest, he met the “grave” man who berated him lightly for his tardiness; Goodman defended himself by blaming it on his wife, “Faith kept me back awhile.” There was no pause to reflect on the uprightness of his actions; he quite naturally and unhesitatingly blamed Faith for something for which she was most

Hawthorne couldn’t hold a job for long, and with Sophia’s health, she couldn’t help much. To make it a better environment for her husband to write, the artist gave her paintings for her sister

William B. Dillingham has, with immense precision, conjectured in his literary criticism of Hawthorne that amidst the theme of ‘inherited curse’ Hawthorne has placed a significant ‘real’ theme which is “necessity of man’s participation” in the “united struggle of mankind”. In fact, he begins his essay on “Structure and Theme in the House of Seven Gables” by stating, “Most critics of The House of Seven Gables fail to discover any structural pattern. The usual conclusion is that the book consists of a series of episodes