Jessica Rhodunda
Dr Adams
9/2/08
English Comp

As the World Changes

As the world changes, so does the land. At the same time, the land is being handed over by different people. This handing over of land affects the world and people in many ways. In Nathaniel Hawthorne “The House of the Seven Gables”, he greatly shows the reader the massive changes that happen in the world. He shows us how possession of one’s things can be destroyed just by the different owner.

In the first chapter there is a man named Matthew Maule who owns this beautiful land just outside of a town. He has a well that flows with crisp clean water and the trees are in abundance. Unfortunately, there is another man that wants Maule’s land and his name is Colonel Pyncheon. The Colonel wants Maule’s land so much he accuses Maule of witchcraft. So Maule is trialed for witchcraft, found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. As Maule is about to be hung he curses at Pycheon, but Pycheon doesn’t really mind. Only a few days later, Colonel Pycheon starts to build his house on the land that Maule use to own.

“It was a curious and, as some people thought, an ominous fact that, very soon after the workmen began their operations, the spring of water,…, entirely lost the deliciousness of its pristine quality.”(p4)

This quote explains how the turnover of the land, actually changed the land. It went from Maule, who was a decent man, to Colonel Pycheon, who unrightfully accused Maule. The well on the land was crisp and clean when Maule was living on the land. But when Pycheon came and started to build on it, the well went black and the quality of the water was destroyed. This demonstrates the effect of man has on the land.

The effect of the land based on people isn’t just in the books. It is happening in the present right now because of all of it for the industrialization of the world. The deforestation of the wilderness is greatly affected by the people. They are cutting down trees when it really isn’t necessary and making the land useless. Also, the population that people are causing with cars and factories are destroying the land too. The lakes and rivers that are connected or near the factories are getting the residue from them and harming the living animals in it. In addition, the air which people and animals breathe is getting populated from the cars that we drive. The cars that have to be the newest fad , the fastest cars, the ones that are sending population in the air. This is a chain reaction to the land.

The current events and the event in Hawthorne’s book are greatly alike. The main cause of this is the change in the way people are thinking. Colonel Pycheon wanted the land, so he did everything in his power to get it. People today want everything to be high tech and up to date. They don’t think about the changes that it is making on the land around them. The change of land from people to people greatly effects the environment. This greatly shows how the works of man are sometimes evil.