A Turn For The Better?

In the beginning of chapter seven "The Guest", we see a turn in Hawthorne's writing. Let it be clear that The House of The Seven Gables is still part of the Gothic literature genre, but it is presented differently here. We open to a scene of Hepzibah and Phoebe preparing to cook a breakfast meal. Although they are still inside the house, the atmosphere has seemed to change. In class we have talked about how Phoebe is the innocent one who helps the family climb out of the dark past that has been haunting them, figuratively and literally.
Not only has the atmosphere changed in the house, but Hawthorne's writing as well. His details and writing have more of a cheerful mood behind the ink on the page. Although he continues to use Gothic "vocabulary" such as ghosts, castle, shadowy hands, and pale cheeks, the mood itself has change to a more positive outlook on life and their surroundings. Since Phoebe's arrival things have been looking up for the family, especially Hepzibah. This scene sort of gives off the "Sunday morning family breakfast" feeling.
Personally, I think this shift of Hawthorne's writing is meant to show that beauty can be found in this genre of literature. Although he continues to still write the same and use the same words, he puts beauty behind them and shows that he is talented enough to portray life and beauty through immortal and deathly adjectives and nouns. It is almost impossible to find beauty such as the Gothic beauty portrayed and presented in this genre. The writing is so stylized and structured so that a mortal can understand how beauty can die as well.

Signifiers of Gothic Literature

Whenever I think of Gothic literature, a few authors' names pop into my head such as Samuel Coleridge, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. They gave us such works as Rime of The Ancient Mariner, The House of Seven Gables, Fall of The House of Usher, Frankenstein, and Prometheus Unbound. These works and the genre of Gothic literature all have signifiers, or characteristics, that are part of the genre itself. The list is broad and very long, but a few are: ancient castles, subterranean dungeons, secret passageways, flickering lamps, screams, moans, bloody hands, ghosts, graveyards, the supernatural, and even animals reacting to a supernatural event about to happen (i.e. dogs barking, horses neighing). We can even go as far to say the novel could take place in a "fallen world".
In The House of the Seven Gables, immediately upon reading the first chapter we are presented with witchcraft, curses on Colonel Pyncheon, and an excerpt in which Hawthorne personifies death as a person:

"Thus early had one guest-the only guest who is certain, at one time
or another. to find his way into every human dwelling-thus early
had Death stept across the threshold of the House of Seven Gables."
(pg. 16)

Unexplained events that could be causes of the supernatural occur also such as Maule's Well becoming disease stricken after his death and even "cursed ground" upon which Colonel Pyncheon decides to tear down Matthew Maule's old house and build The House on top of it. Maule curses the Colonel before being hung and uttering a prophecy that will eventually com true later in the story, another trait of a Gothic novel. Sleepless nights and things that go bump in the night occur also.
The Gothic genre of literature and the Romantic genre fuse together at times and present us with a world that is full of the unexplained and supernatural as well as plots that just dont make sense in which we will question our narrator's sanity and the words they speak. As readers we must analyze the book we are reading and break it down in order to fully understand it.

The Big River Isnt The Only Thing That Is Two Hearted

When analyzing The Big Two Hearted River by Hemingway, it is easy to become lost in the search and explanation of metaphors throughout. But the larger idea that presents itself is this theme of nature and the effects it has on man. In war it is known that it is a "man versus man" struggle, in nature though, it is a "man versus nature struggle". Our narrator, Nick, uses nature as his recovering technique, and it is also a metaphor for his recovery from the horrors he has seen when at war. Nature is presented peacefully through fishing, clean air, morning coffee and this idea of oneness between man and earth. When camping or hunting or simply surviving in nature, it is seen as a noble "sport" where the fight is just as important as the win. In war, there is only sadness, pain, hurt, and future trauma to come.
The Iceberg Theory can be applied to the story in its entirety by which Hemingway used the technique of omission where background details are not addressed, but rather the foreground is the main subject material. Time flows forward in this story and Nick always looks ahead as not only a positive thinking technique, but also a recovery technique to not dwell on the horrors he experienced at war. When looking at the story in a detailed manner, the section where Nick walks through the burned down town, we are not presented with reason for the fire, only the black grasshoppers. This can be seen as a metaphor that those who have been through hell and back show mental and a physical changes in their performance through life and appearance. Mental and physical activities that Nick performs are so mundane that he doesn't allow himself to think of anything else.
This story was one of the most simple and bare stories we have read in the class to date, yet, it has one of the most unexplained backgrounds we have seen. Does the simple writing style convey deeper meaning than a writing style of detail and explanation? I hope we can discuss this idea in class.