Under the instruction of the author's own confession in the preface of The House of the Seven Gables, it's easy for readers and critics to take the theme of this novel as past and present, stasis and change, a...Under the instruction of the author's own confession in the preface of The House of the Seven Gables, it's easy for readers and critics to take the theme of this novel as past and present, stasis and change, aristocracy and democracy, and then to unfavor?ably judge Pycheon siblings, the representatives of the former, by Holgrave, that of the latter. However, by using two narrative voic?es simultaneously in the novel, an intradiegeitic one and an extradeigetic one, Hawthorne actually reveals his equal disapproval of both the Pycheon siblings and Holgrave. In the intradiegetic narrative, the narrative voice as a whole takes its side with Holgrave and reveals Pycheon siblings'isolation from the united struggle of mankind. In the extradiegetic narrative where the narrator ad?dresses directly to his readers, the narrator expresses a similar disapproval of Holgrave, who is equally isolated from the chain of hu?manity for lacking sympathy for his fellow beings. With the co-existence of two narrative voices, Hawthorne's true concern lies in calling attention to the equally dangerous situations of isolation from the chain of humanity:an isolation from the chain of progress and that of human sympathy.展开更多
文摘Under the instruction of the author's own confession in the preface of The House of the Seven Gables, it's easy for readers and critics to take the theme of this novel as past and present, stasis and change, aristocracy and democracy, and then to unfavor?ably judge Pycheon siblings, the representatives of the former, by Holgrave, that of the latter. However, by using two narrative voic?es simultaneously in the novel, an intradiegeitic one and an extradeigetic one, Hawthorne actually reveals his equal disapproval of both the Pycheon siblings and Holgrave. In the intradiegetic narrative, the narrative voice as a whole takes its side with Holgrave and reveals Pycheon siblings'isolation from the united struggle of mankind. In the extradiegetic narrative where the narrator ad?dresses directly to his readers, the narrator expresses a similar disapproval of Holgrave, who is equally isolated from the chain of hu?manity for lacking sympathy for his fellow beings. With the co-existence of two narrative voices, Hawthorne's true concern lies in calling attention to the equally dangerous situations of isolation from the chain of humanity:an isolation from the chain of progress and that of human sympathy.
