... . To better understand the notion of the Pyncheon version of domestic ideology and how it applies to both sexes one must look towards the text. In the novel the House of Seven Gables is the focal point of everything. It is in the house that we uncover the legacy of the Pyncheon family, descendants of a strict Puritan heritage and the Maule's (descendants of paupers). In the novel the house becomes personified. The house becomes a character that symbolizes the values and feelings of those inside. "The aspect of the venerable mansion has ... always affected me like a human countenance, bea...

• Word Count: 2986
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... , The House of the Seven Gables attempts to show the suffering of descendants forced to repent for the sins of their "father", while they are unknowingly renewing the curse by nurturing the ancestral greed that has passed through the generations. Thus the various themes of the novel reflect the central idea of continued sin through the greed and guilt of a declining family. Each generation struggles to escape the sins of the past, only to be thrust forcefully back to face the offenses of their forefathers. The House of the Seven Gables ... . While Jeffrey "was entirely too prominent", the...

• Word Count: 2711
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... a bit of the sense of smell in "Churning Day" but not in the other poems because there is no need for it. "The house would stink acrid as a sulphur mine" (Line 27) describes the aftermath of "Churning Day", how it would stink. Heaney's other use of the sense of smell is "sour-breathed milk" (Line 33) as one of his main memories of "Churning Day" when the day had finished. Heaney uses the sense of sight ... attacking it. "Raindrop eye, old snout" (Line 26) Heaney is looking very closely at the rat. Heaney uses personification to describe how things looked: "The river nosed past, pliable,...

• Word Count: 3308
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School