Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Miles Coverdale to depict the process by which an individual reconstructs past experience into an emotionally and intellectually acceptable form. Through Coverdale's narrative, Hawthorne illustrates that truth is at best an approximation, that the transformational effects of time and distance obscure one's memory of remembered events, thus making absolute truth impossible to discover. As Coverdale attempts to understand his past--reordering, reassessing, and assigning it significance--a subjective interpretation of his past experience evolves. It iLs Coverdale's subjective interpretation of experience which Hawthorne presents in The Blithedale Romance; the ambiguity and mystery of Coverdale's narrativeare necessary to the design of the romance, for both elements characterize the area between truth and imagination in which experience is perceived and interpreted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc503910 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Morgan, Sarah June |
| Contributors | Miller, Lee W., Kesterson, David B., 1938-, Hughes, Robert L. |
| Publisher | North Texas State University |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | iii, 112 leaves, Text |
| Rights | Public, Morgan, Sarah June, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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