"Cliff Notes - House of Seven Gables" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

crack? What is the source of his powerlessness? And what is it
that has made this Pyncheon man so different from the other?

His life is a symbol for isolation brought to an extreme.
And it is only when he runs from the house and out into the
world that he is "startled into manhood and intelligence." But
he cannot sustain the energy required to become a man of action.
It is too late for Clifford. As the narrator tells him, he has
no future.

Clifford and Holgrave have a great deal in common. Listen to
their speeches. What is it they both are saying? How is it
that both have arrived at this philosophy? What does it mean
that a Pyncheon and a Maule share these thoughts? And how is it
that Phoebe is so important to both of them?

^^^^^^^^^^
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES: HEPZIBAH

In her rusty black silks and her hideous turban, the
sixty-year-old spinster could strike fear into any heart.
Afflicted with poor eyesight, Hepzibah wears a chronic squint
that twists her face into a scowl.

Proud, lonely, and without talent for practical matters, she
is the symbol of decaying gentility. For twenty-five years she
has lived alone in the house of the seven gables, grieving for
her unjustly imprisoned brother, Clifford. Like the house
itself, she is a symbol of the ruin brought by isolation. And
when she is forced to open a small variety shop to support
herself. Hepzibah is unable to reconnect with the world.

What is it that makes you so fond of Hepzibah, one of the
most endearing characters in literature? What saves her in your
estimation is what saves her from complete ruin: her fierce
love and loyalty. Her suffering on Clifford's behalf "enriches"
and "elevates" her life.

^^^^^^^^^^
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES: HOLGRAVE

What does Holgrave represent? Is he the voice of the future,
whose message is the rise of the common man and the demise of
the past with its aristocracy? Or is he an echo of the
past--descended from Wizard Maule, and invested with all his
powers? Or is he, simply, an artist whose agent is sunlight,
and whose work is revealing the true nature of people?

You see Holgrave almost exclusively through the eyes of
Hepzibah and Phoebe, but neither woman understands him.