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.
Who wrote this? Was is it just to test creating a website?
I know that stories have more than one valid interpretation, but the analysis has to be accurate with what happens in the story. Here are some mistakes in the review:
- Hawthorne does not begin the story by introducing the main character, he begins by saying that the fictional story he will tell is a mental exercise based on a story he saw on the news;
- "let us call him Wakefield" does not in any way imply that his name is not Wakefield. This sentence can only infer that the narrator is promptly inventing a name for the subsequent mental exercise of creating a story based on the piece of news he recently saw;
- "The fact that Wakefield changes his appearance suggests his fear of being seen". Wakefield changes his appearance to isolate himself from those who could maybe recognize him in the busy city in which he lives.
- "Nevertheless, at the end when he returns home, his identity changes to 'a loving spouse till death'" This is in no way correct. You are confusing the fictional character Wakefield invented by the narrator for the supposed real person that the narrator saw on the news and got inspired to write this speculative experiment.
Anyways, English is probably not your first language (it is not my first language either), and the story and narration of Wakefield, with its narrator writing a thought experiment after commenting and getting inspired by a real story is a bit confusing. I'm just writing this because it is interesting that it is so easy to create a website nowadays and this site looks very professional but the content is just clearly inaccurate and not valid