Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Conception of Time in The House of the Seven Gables

Abstract

Dwelling  on his theme that the sins of the past  have a bearing upon succeeding generations, Nathaniel  Hawthorne, in The House of the Seven Gables, interfuses the past with the  present to renew time and unlock potentialities  for  renewal to be actualized in the future.The discussion shows that the past lives into the  present, that the Pyncheons, especially Clifford and Hepzibah,  change through the course of time, that time keeps passing by and cannot be denied, and that the future constructed via incorporating the past into the present becomes an American  territory.This  newly-constructed territory is ruled by democracy; it is also marked by a unified conception of time consisting in synthesizing the linear and cyclical temporalities. Humans in this place are love-bound and bent on honoring democratic ideals, such as equality, freedom, justice, etc.

Key words: Generations; Interfuse; Ineffable; Irreversible; Linear; Cyclical; Temporality; Construct; Comprise; Natural rhythms; Conception; Course of time