The way in which any story is told, and who tells it, can be an extremely influential part of the narrative. More than simply whether or not the reader can trust the narrator to tell the truth, without a bias, the narrative lens can entirely shape the way in which the world is viewed. The most interesting narrator, as well as the most suspicious, is the narrator who is also a character, an active participant in the action of the story. In such a case, the narrator legitimately has both intimate and limited knowledge of the other characters, and yet that knowledge is continually filtered through the relatively narrow narrative lens, thus changing its appearance and meaning. With his Miles Coverdale, in The Blithedale Romance, however, Nathaniel Hawthorne takes this narrative form to another level. Not only is the narrator an intricate part of the narrative, but he has two distinct personalities, one as the younger character who is actually performing the actions of the story, and another as the present day narrator, looking back on his former self, and commenting. These dual personalities set up a very interesting and complex dynamic, since while Coverdale the character is unaware of future events and occurrences, Coverdale the narrator is not, thus his comments, usually in direct contrast to the actions and feelings of the characters in the present time, create a prominent source of foreshadowing, even if the foreshadowing can only be seen on a second time through the novel. As Harvey Gable states in his article on Hawthorne, found in the June 1994 issue of The New England Quarterly, the significance Hawthorne perceives, through narrator Coverdale, is often violently different from that perceived by the Blithedalers and character Coverdale (263). Gable goes on to describe the metaphorical difference between urban life in Boston and life in Blithedale, as represented by the narrator Coverdale, as well as the connection between Priscilla and the ideal theory behind Blithedale. By focusing on the Self, and the various forms and disintegrations, Gable is able to form a solid and relatively convincing argument in regards to Coverdale. However, he does not consistently take into account the sarcastic voice of the character Coverdale, a fact which leads to possibly too favorable of a reading. However, I am getting ahead of myself. Let us first examine Gables argument.
Gable begins his article with a contrast between urban life and the Blithedale ideal, a discussion which is filtered through the idea of Self, and which environment is better suited for the development of the Self. Gable suggests that the Blithedalers view artificial urban life[as] destructive to the circularity and organic softness of the sphere of Self (264), since urban life is represented by rectangular, metallic, and confining features. Thus, the idea of Blithedale is constructed in order to be diametrically opposed to the restrictive nature of urban life, so that it is a place without boundaries, or edges, and all of its members can share in the circle of brotherly love. Here, all men are supposedly equal, all objects, joys and burdens are shared, and the isolated nature of Blithedale would prevent the negative influence from the outside world from invading their paradise. According to Gable, this is truly the optimistic outlook that the Blithedalers, Coverdale included, originally held when entering into the project. The sarcastic, cynical voice which continually enters in order to comment on the occurrences belongs to the future Coverdale as narrator. It is through his cynicism that the reader becomes aware of a deeper, hidden meaning, which urges a closer examination of the situation. At the very beginning of the narrative, Coverdales future narrative voice is strongest and most obvious, especially when he, the narrator, contradicts the emotions felt by the characters of the time. For example, the character Coverdale is in the process of leaving his apartments, in quest of a better life, when, immediately following this comment, the narrator scoffs, The better life! Possibly, it would hardly look so, now; it is enough that it looked so then (10). Yet, even while laughing at his former naivet, he commends his youthful optimism. Here, Gable suggests that the narrator Coverdales images challenge the programs reality (264) and that the very goal of Blithedale, to create a communal brotherhood, is destructive to the development of the Self. His primary example of this challenge lies in the repetition of the fire-circle image: whereas in the city, each person is allowed their own individual blaze, and each house partaking of the warmth of all the rest (Hawthorne 10), Blithedale is a remote and icy wasteland, where individuals are not allowed their own fires but are expected to huddle around a single, communal blaze (Gable 265). Although it is through an artificial process, the city actually provides heat, among other things, more efficiently to its inhabitants than does the countryside, and more importantly, it is able to provide both communal and individual comforts at the same time. If the city is characterized by this all-over, shared, and yet individual heat, then the isolated Blithedale is exemplified by the cold, winter storm, especially considering such an icy tempest greets them during their journey. The actual land of Blithedale represents the ideal, the communal theory, upon which this experiment is based, and so by equating the barren winter world with the Blithedalers moral landscape, Coverdale reveals how alien to the warm heart of humanity are the cold theories upon which the project is based (Gable 265).
Such a realm of theory is inhospitable to man, human life cannot live unprotected (Gable 265) in the icy environment without changing things. However, if the theories or the ideals are re-shaped in order to become more hospitable, then they are no longer the same ideals, and will retain the track of old conventionalism (Gable 266). All of this is shown through the dual personalities of Coverdale, and the images that the narrator chooses to provide. One example of the duality Gable suggests is the varying treatment of Priscilla between the two: he states that the brother Coverdale notes with apparent approval that she is blossoming into a real girl while on the other hand, to the narrator, she was some desolate kind of a creature, doomed to wander about in snow-storms (Hawthorne 27). For Gable, these examples suggest a link between the icy, ideal of Blithedale and Priscilla, the soulful, and mysterious Veiled Lady. She is brought to Blithedale devoid of societys markings, and her nature is allowed to develop naturally; she is the first born in the new society, even as she is probably around twenty years old. The novel even provides us with blatant clues to this connection, as when she first arrives and Hollingsworth declares, Let us conclude that Providence has sent her to us, as the first fruits of the world, which we have undertaken to make happier than we find itAs we do by this friendless girl, so will we prosper! (30). With this connection, Gable goes on to argue that since Priscilla is the embodiment of the ideals of Blithedale, and Coverdales final confession reveals that he is in lovewithPriscilla (Hawthorne 247), then the reader comes to the conclusion that rather than being cynically pessimistic throughout the experiment, instead, perhaps he loves the ideals and so feels betrayed by the failure of the project, which, since Priscilla melts into their society as soon as she is brought into it, was doomed from the start.
These connections make sense, and Gables analysis is extremely useful in understanding the underlying meaning and the psychological themes running throughout The Blithedale Romance, and yet I hesitate to endorse the emphasis placed on the degree of separation between Coverdale as character and Coverdale as narrator. Many times, the distinction is not as clear as Gable would have the reader believe. Although conceptually, the reader recognizes that since the entirety of the text is written in the past tense, that categorically, everything that is not direct dialog or reflection of an action is commentary by the narrator, it is not clear whether or not the feelings of the commentary are reflective of Coverdale at the time or of the future Coverdale looking back, with all of the knowledge that comes with time. For example, examining the illustration suggested by Gable, that the narrator sees Priscilla as some desolate kind of creature (Hawthorne 27), the reader must recognize that at this point in time, she would look that way, coming in from the violent snow storm, standing small and shivering in the center of such a boisterous crowd, with nary a word unless forced out of her. It is quite possible that the comment describing her as a desolate creature could very well have come from Coverdale the character, and not necessarily a reflection of Coverdale looking back at this instant. Now, this may seem like a simple matter of semantics, but it sheds quite a different light on Gables argument that the commentary by the more knowledgeable narrator suggests a greater foreshadowing and insight to the very nature of the Blithedale experiment and its participants. Rather than the narrator using his formidable insight, some of the comments may be simply the cynical, sarcastic observations of a jaded young man. Whereas Gable argues that Coverdale is the victim of betrayed ideals, ideals which were doomed from the start, reflected through the narrators nostalgic and critical remarks, I lean more towards the idea that Coverdale may have been apathetic from the start. As Hollingsworth suggests, Miles Coverdale is not in earnest, either as a poet or a laborer (Hawthorne 68), nor as communist, at the time when he is actually present at Blithedale. He does not, in earnest, as Gable suggests, love the ideals, and then, once devastated by its failure, he becomes disenchanted and so comments on his past life; rather, the critical, nostalgic narrator can find his palpable roots in his former self.
In all, Gables analysis provides a valuable insight into the characters of Blithedale, the connections between city and rural life, and most importantly, an explanation as to why the project is doomed to fail from the start. The icy analogy between forced, shared warmth in the commune, versus the individual, yet communal warmth of the city, thus allowing for individuality and Self, is a valid and important analogy that should be closer examined by anyone interested in the novel. However, though it may have some substance, Gables argument that the separation between Coverdale as character and Coverdale as narrator continually contributes greatly to the depth of the narrative may not have as significant an effect as he would suggest. Perhaps the poetical, satirical nature found in the narrator can be tied back to his former self, a correlation stronger than otherwise suggested. In that case, Gable lends Coverdale a bit too favorable of a reading, endowing him with sentimentalities he does not actually hold dear. In any case, I simply beg the reader to understand Gables argument, take it in, but be wary and critical, and do not be taken in by it.
Works Cited
Gable, Harvey L. Jr. Inappeasable Longings: Hawthorne, Romance and the Disintegration of Coverdales Self in The Blithedale Romance. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 67, No. 2. (Jun., 1994), pp. 257-278. Reprinted in: JSTOR, 2 Apr 2007 : http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0028-4866%28199406%2967%3A2%3C257%3AILHRAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-9
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Blithedale Romance. New York, Penquin Books, 1986.
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