A married couple, Wakefield and his wife, lives in London. Wakefield tells his wife that he will go out for a journey for three or four day. Wakefield kisses his wife, and while he is leaving, he smiles to his wife. Instead of coming back, he disappears for twenty-year, without seeing from his wife and friends. Hawthorne leaves no clue why Wakefield leaves his house. Mrs. Wakefield thinks about his last smile and imagines him in many possible ways, such as he is looking pale and frozen in the coffin. She dreams of him in a heaven. She wonders that maybe she is a widow. Actually, he lodges in a house next street to his own house. He changes his appearance, buying a new wig, for disguise. Hawthorne describes, “He melts into the great mass of London life”. He observes his own house and sees a doctor going into his house. He gets excited whether his wife will die? Hawthorne explains that Wakefield is uncertain about whether he should reappear. He thinks about the day he wants to return home, but he put off from one day to another day until it is undetermined. One day, he walks in the town. The busy crowd forces him and his wife meet together; their hands touch, and they stare into each other eyes. Although his appearance changes so much that she cannot recognize him, she feels something and glances back to the street. Wakefield immediately hurries back to his lodging, throws himself on the bed, and cries, “Wakefield! Wakefield! You are mad!” Twenty years of living alone seems to feel less than a week for him. One evening while he is walking, an instant rain pour down and he get wet. He thinks that why he has to stand wet outside in spite of having a warm fire and dry clothes waiting him in his house. Finally, because of Habit and unawareness, Hawthorne suggested, Wakefield unintentionally steps into his own house.
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Unique technique in this story is that he tells the plot of the whole story in one sentence, “the man, under pretense of going a journey, took lodging in the next street to his own house, and there, unheard by his wife or friends, and without the shadow of a reason for such self-banishment, dwelt upwards of twenty years” (Hawthorne 75).
Imagery Images of Death: Imagery of death is the major literary techniques which Hawthorne uses to develop theme and characters. In the opening paragraph, Hawthorne says that Wakefield not returns home until he realizes that death is waiting for him; his name is fade away from memory, and he leave his wife so long that now she becomes a widow. His fear of death, especially lonely death, pushes him to go back to his place. Imagination of his wife when he is absent so long pictures her haunted memory. His images of the last glimpse after he leaves still stick in her mind, as she dreams that he is looking pale and frozen in the coffin, or in a heaven. Although just an imaginary, those phantom pictures of him, whether live of death, provides readers a perception of darkness. If considers literary meaning of the words “wake” and “field”, they suggest meaning of the field which consists of something wakes. In this case, they give an image of zombie graveyard. Moreover, his action refers to imagery of ghostliness, while he is in the shadow, waiting for souls of the dead people, as he wonders to his wife, when a physician walks into the house, “will she die?” (Hawthorne 78). Images of the city: dark and busy London At the beginning of the story, Hawthorne mentions that the story is set in London. London is an urban city, which Hawthorne chooses to emphasize the compatible between his setting and characters. London gives an image of busy day, smell of rotten flesh. Its grey sky also suggests some sort of tragedy. As a story going on, the setting provides a sense of loneliness, even though among the crowd of people, foreshadowing occurring of misfortune events. In addition, the great mass citizen of London allows him to disappear easily. Mysterious Identity
Unclear and questionable identity is the main theme in this story. Hawthorne begins the story by introduces his protagonist, “let us call him Wakefield” (Hawthorne 75), implying that Wakefield is not the real name. He deliberately makes Wakefield identity obscure to the readers. Hawthorne draws readers’ attention by posting a question, “what sort of a man is Wakefield?”(Hawthorne 75). Hawthorne tells that Wakefield is a man who pretends of going a journey, but he does not explain the reasons behind his actions. He leaves readers to imagine their own ideas, making the story mysterious. After other thinks that he is dead, Wakefield quietly observes his home and his wife from his own place. The fact that Wakefield changes his appearance suggests his fear of being seen. He disguises himself, stalks his wife and watches the world from the shadow. However, his twenty-year absent is a huge gap of time. What else he does during that plenty of time remains uncovered. Nevertheless, at the end when he returns home, his identity changes to “a loving spouse till death” (Hawthorne 75). Mentally Aberration Hawthorne describes that Wakefield possesses “the whole list of human oddities” (Hawthorne 75), representing flaws in human being, which often appear as a main theme in his text. Despite of his being married, he plans to leave his own wife, and takes lodge in the next street. His disguise in appearance excludes him from all people he known. Wakefield shows a wield curiosity, wanting to know how the world would be without him. His action reveals his abnormality when the doctor comes to his home, instead of worry about his wife, he wonders “will she die?” (Hawthorne 78). Hawthorne, moreover, shows Wakefield’s divert perspective through his self-isolation. He desires the power of observing God, according to Deism, a belief that God creates the world and leaves it to function without intervention. Nevertheless his intention to permanently leave from the society is fail. In spite of his intellectual or, if considered, his anomaly, he cannot escape a fundamental human sin. When the rain pours, his instinct, like an animal’s one, drives him to find a dry and comfort place. Eventually, he is rushing into his house without awareness. Wakefield
Wakefield is a middle-age man. He is intellectual but sluggish and calm. His life is similar to life of a hermit who abnegates sexual affection. His characteristics have the capacity to be enlightened, but he is just still lacking of energy as if he is sleeping. Then, he does a mistake, which later he learns. He breaks out from the social norm, leaving his wife and his home. But in the end, when the rain pours, his instinct, like an animal’s one, drives him to find a dry and comfort place. Eventually, he is rushing into his house without awareness. After twenty-year of Wakefield’s self-banishment, Hawthorne suggests that Wakefield encounters a great moral change. Wakefield, which a part of his name “wake” suggests “awakenings” (Sterling 128), suddenly realizes the importance of living in a family, as Hawthorne describes him when he returns home as “a loving spouse till death”(Hawthorne 75). Therefore he awakes from the darkness. At the end, Wakefield is described as “the Outcast of the Universe” (Hawthorne 80). Hawthorne gives a moral that once one steps out; he may lose his own spot, and cannot fit in the society again and forever. |