Chapter 6 The Contention for Jollity and Gloom: Hospitality in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Historical Short Fiction1
In: The Poetics and Politics of Hospitality in U.S. Literature and CultureSearch for other papers by Santiago Rodríguez Guerrero-Strachan in
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Abstract
Nathaniel Hawthorne deals with inhospitable places in several of his short stories. His use of history in his fiction always problematizes the role of British during the Colonial Period, as can be seen in “Endicott and the Red Cross,” “The Gentle Boy,” and “The May-Pole of Merry Mount.” It is my intention to explore the role that places play in these stories. Though they have been variously analyzed, most of the times in symbolic terms, I want to investigate how these places become inhospitable for some characters.
In “Endicott and the Red Cross,” Endicott becomes Levinas’s displaced host; in “The May-Pole of Merry Mount” the native inhabitants have to suffer the Puritan rule and abandon their pagan traditions. Finally, “The Gentle Boy” deals with the way in which Puritans tried to forbid the Quakers settling in New England. It is my view that Hawthorne wanted to deal with the issue of religion in Salem and the consequences that religious bigotry had in the inhabitants of the town, both native and colonists. With that intention in mind, he created fictional places that would suit his purpose.