From Self-Loss To Self-reconstruction: A Spatial Interpretation Of Hawthorne’s The House Of The Seven Gables

Nathaniel Hawthorne is an influential writer who has unique attainments in writing both tales and romances.He excels in applying rich symbols and broad psychological description.The House of the Seven Gables is a classic of American literature with great value in research.Hawthorne himself regards this book as his best work,for it embodies more characteristic of his mind.Scholars at home and abroad have interpreted this book from various perspectives;however,few of them pay attention to the spatial elements in it.With the “spatial turn” of literary research,the value and connotation of space are reconsidered.It is no longer a static container,but a space that is integrated with society,culture,identity and other aspects.The House of the Seven Gables has a strong sense of “spatiality1”,and it describes the fall and rise of the Pyncheon family.As representative descendants of Pyncheon family,both Hepzibah and Clifford experience a process from self-loss to self-reconstruction.Hawthorne puts all the activities of his characters and development of story in particular spaces such as the Pyncheon House,Pyncheon garden and Pyncheon street.Therefore,the development of characters is closely related to spatial elements in this book.On the basis of Henri Lefebvre’s theory of space and other related theories,this thesis excavates the influences of spatial elements exert on Hepzibah and Clifford.The thesis analyzes their self-development from three aspects: physical space,mental space and social space.The thesis firstly discusses their self-loss in the shifts of physical spaces from the inside of the Pyncheon house to the outside.Then it focuses on their self-pursuit in complicated psychological space.It finally interprets their self-reconstruction in social space which is full of conflicts and confrontations.Through text analysis,the thesis concludes that space plays a positive and promoting role in characters’ self-development.After suffering a self-loss in physical spaces,Hepzibah and Clifford start their self-pursuit in mental space actively and finally realize their self-reconstruction in social space.It is a fresh try to conduct a spatial interpretation of this book,and it is hoped that this perspective could widen the research of The House of the Seven Gables.What is more,the relationship between space and characters’ self-development contains a unique social and cultural significance which deserves exploring.