Change seen through women

Katherine Delle
Dr. Johns
Seminar in Composition
9/7/08
Change in women (Group 1’s 2nd assignment)

"The House of the Seven Gables" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, displays many social, political, and historical themes throughout its content. One of these themes that I find to be particularly important to the book is that of change, specifically change for the women of the time period. Hepzibah Pyncheon, the current occupant of the house of seven gables, is struggling with life as a poor, lonely, older woman. She has limited options as a Puritan woman since she doesn’t have a husband to bring in income. However, Hepzibah decides to do something considered to be very scandalous and humiliating for the time, which is to open up a shop and make her own money. This was simply unheard of for women. Although it was somewhat of a last resort for her, it was still an incredibly brave and intelligent thing to do. Women of the time could not be independent whatsoever. Basically, they had to rely on the men in their lives to survive. This is why the change that Hepzibah undertakes is so admirable and a stepping stone for others to follow. Hawthorne was criticizing his society for looking down upon women and this is why he made Hepzibah’s character lose her dignity when doing something that for people today would seem so normal.

A passage which demonstrates this idea clearly is when Hawthorne himself comments on how shameful Hepzibah’s actions are. He writes,“Our miserable old Hepzibah! It is a heavy annoyance to a writer, who endeavors to represent nature, its various attitudes and circumstances, in a reasonably correct outline and true coloring, that so much of the mean and ludicrous should be hopelessly mixed up with the purest pathos which life anywhere supplies to him. What tragic dignity, for example, can be wrought into a scene like this!” (26, Hawthorne)
The narrator expresses that he pities Hepzibah for opening up a shop and that it is a strange and unheard of idea. However, her doing so is allowing change for women to occur.

Uncle Venner is another character who further displays acceptance of change for women. He supports Hepzibah opening her shop saying, “So, you really have begun trade, really begun trade! Well, I’m glad to see it. Young people should never idle in the world, nor old ones neither…” (42, Hawthorne). Uncle Venner doesn’t communicate sexism like most men probably would have, showing that change is definitely occurring within their society.

Change in women is an important theme thus far in the book because it allows the reader to expand his imagination when thinking about what characters like Hepzibah and Phoebe are capable of. If Hepzibah was able to challenge such a prevalent norm just what else would she do? When the reader sees the women of this book as strong and independent the limits of the story can be reduced and some of the predictability disappears.

Shifting in the roles of women is definitely a well- founded idea and one that I congratulate Hawthorne for including in this book. It is important to recognize how much women of his time were held back. I believe that Hawthorne realized this and thus it is part of the reason why he criticizes and makes fun of society so much in his writing. Hawthorne was somewhat ahead of his time in this way of thinking.

In a contemporary sense, change in the sense of feminine independence can be mirrored through former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto was the first woman to serve as prime minister of an Islamic country. Women of most Islamic nations of the Middle East aren’t allowed to do many of the same things as men are. Their primary role is to tend to their husband and children and they cannot do things such as drive or go to school. Benazir Bhutto challenging the ways of her own culture by running for Prime Minister was an incredible advance for women in Islamic nations. Although this may seem like an extreme example of a woman going against the societal norm, it is still extremely relevant because both Hepzibah and Bhutto had fear for what they may face but proceeded to do what was best for both themselves and others. Hepzibah had taking care of her brother Clifford in mind when she opened the shop and Bhutto had the well being of Pakistan in mind when she ran in the first free election in Pakistan. I believe that Hawthorne definitely would have wanted to see a woman achieve something such as Bhutto has. It was the type of societal change that he was hoping for when he wrote about Hepzibah opening her shop in "The House of the Seven Gables".