Gregory Cecere

Nobles and Savages: Hierarchic Organization and Restoration in Nathaniel Hawthorne's the House of the Seven Gables Gregory Cecere

Since its publication, the conclusion of The House of the Seven Gables has been criticized as either inconsistent with the rest of the novel or a failure. After analyzing this novel along with Hawthorne's other major works, it becomes clear that there is in fact consistency to the conclusion of this great American novel. It is through a complex dissection of the concept of hierarchies and their constructions that the patterns in Hawthorne's texts become more obvious--and the meaning of the conclusion of this long debated text becomes apparent.