Title: The Challenges of Crafting a Blithedale Romance Research Paper

Embarking on the journey of writing a research paper can be a daunting task, and when it comes to
delving into the intricacies of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Blithedale Romance," the challenge
becomes even more formidable. Composing a thesis on this complex literary work requires a deep
understanding of the text, critical analysis skills, and a mastery of academic writing. As many
students grapple with the demands of such a task, they often seek assistance to ensure the quality
and depth of their work.

One option that stands out in aiding students through this intricate process is ⇒ BuyPapers.club
⇔. The platform offers a specialized service tailored to the unique challenges posed by "The
Blithedale Romance." Navigating through the nuances of this novel, examining its themes,
characters, and underlying messages requires a level of expertise that the team at ⇒ BuyPapers.club
⇔ is well-equipped to provide.
The intricate narrative and layered symbolism within "The Blithedale Romance" demand careful
consideration and analysis. Crafting a thesis that captures the essence of the work while providing
meaningful insights can be a formidable task for many students. ⇒ BuyPapers.club ⇔ offers a
lifeline to those in need, providing expert assistance in researching, structuring, and articulating ideas
that align with the academic rigor expected in a research paper.

The team at ⇒ BuyPapers.club ⇔ comprises experienced writers and researchers who specialize in
literature, ensuring that your Blithedale Romance research paper is in capable hands. Their dedication
to quality and attention to detail can make the process of writing a thesis on this challenging topic
more manageable for students seeking support.

When faced with the complexities of "The Blithedale Romance," it's crucial to recognize the value of
expert guidance. ⇒ BuyPapers.club ⇔ stands as a reliable resource for those navigating the
intricate landscape of Hawthorne's work, offering assistance that goes beyond generic writing
services. For a thesis that reflects a deep understanding of "The Blithedale Romance" and meets the
highest academic standards, consider entrusting your project to the professionals at ⇒
BuyPapers.club ⇔.
Hawthorne begins with a disclaimer: that the events and people were not based on real life. A doctor
was sent for, who, being homaeopathic, gave me as much medicine, in the course of a fortnight's
attendance, as would have laid on the point of a needle. I thiink I learned a lot from it.for example,
there is no new idea anywhere under the sun. Hawthorne writes well, but the plot of this novel is
lacking substance. Yep, let's just say that I'm rather confused about this novel. She is the very picture
of the New England spring; subdued in tint and rather cool, but with a capacity of sunshine, and
bringing us a few Alpine blossoms, as earnest of something richer, though hardly more beautiful,
hereafter. Was a trite love triangle the only option for fictionalizing his experience? Surely not. As the
story unfolds, Hawthorne shows how the idealized Blithedale conflicts with the human needs of its
inhabitants, how it has not eliminated the influence of class and wealth, and generally fails to
measure up to its ambitious ideals. Scholars continually probe the intersection between fiction and
nonfiction, attempting to ascertain what is based on Hawthorne's time at Brook Farm versus what
was embellished or invented by the author.Contemporary critics were not sure that it measured up to
The Scarlet Letter (1850), with some focusing on its tragic nature and the plot being unrealistic. I
couldn't appreciate the plot and I especially could not appreciate that ending which just did not feel
right to me. This was all well enough; but, for a girl like Priscilla and a woman like Zenobia to jostle
one another in their love of a man like Hollingsworth, was likely to be no child's play. Girls are
incomparably wilder and more effervescent than boys, more untamable and regardless of rule and
limit, with an ever-shifting variety, breaking continually into new modes of fun, yet with a
harmonious propriety through all. Each stroke of the hoe was to uncover some aromatic root of
wisdom, heretofore hidden from the sun. It's certainly not as memorable as The Scarlet Letter, but it's
a nice little read. 3 likes Like Comment SamOfKeenFables 34 reviews 2 followers March 2, 2019
Miles Coverdale is a pathetic wannabe who not only has no purpose in life, but resents those around
him for having purpose in their lives. That experience soon taught him that he wasn't really suited, by
temperament and inclination, to a steady regimen of hard physical work. It often requires but one
smile out of the hero's eyes into the girl's or woman's heart, to transform this devotion, from a
sentiment of the highest approval and confidence, into passionate love. I have seen him, a hundred
times, with a pencil and sheet of paper, sketching the facade, the side-view, or the rear of the
structure, or planning the internal arrangements, as lovingly as another man might plan those of the
projected home where he meant to be happy with his wife and children. What I have unpacked here
is just what jumped out at me the most. And I also did not expect it to be such a soap opera like
story haha. Before going to Blithedale, a magician began visiting Priscilla, but nobody understood
why because Priscilla was so homely. And I also did not expect it to be such a soap opera like story
haha. Actually, I don't know if that's true, but I do know that I researched Brook Farm like crazy
after reading this book, and I had an unbridled enthusiasm for months to come about communes, and
starting one. In my Goodreads friends circle, it has only two reviews, neither of them very
complimentary, with ratings of two or three stars (and some Goodreaders mistake the latter for the
“okay” rating, as it would be on Amazon, rather than “liked”). Hawthorne’s point seems to be that
holding rationality primary over contingency and human emotion is shortsighted and silly. It now
appeared that poor Priscilla had not so literally fallen out of the clouds, as we were at first inclined to
suppose. And much like The Scarlet Letter, there is a definite tragic feel to the finale. 2022-reading-
challenge classics historical-fiction.more 2 likes Like Comment Displaying 1 - 30 of 495 reviews
More reviews and ratings Join the discussion 53 quotes 10 discussions 1 question Can't find what
you're looking for. Our Teacher Edition on The Blithedale Romance makes teaching easy. In a way, I
thought this one looks to be the least depressing but. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading
goals. Coats with high collars and with no collars, broad-skirted or swallow-tailed, and with the
waist at every point between the hip and arm-pit; pantaloons of a dozen successive epochs, and
greatly defaced at the knees by the humiliations of the wearer before his lady-love,—in short, we
were a living epitome of defunct fashions, and the very raggedest presentment of men who had seen
better days.
Perhaps my motivations for reading this novel slightly soured my experience of it because the story is
more Romance than it is about the actual community of Blithedale. Hollingsworth, however, says
that a woman’s proper place is at a man’s side. But he never detested the Brook Farm community or
its people as such; indeed, the same preface I mentioned above speaks very positively of both. The
Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. At first, even with
my irritation with the main characters and Hawthorne himself, I was quite caught up in the story. The
narrative arc is not atypical of romance, but the novel turns out to be more of a psychological portrait
of Coverdale than a finely polished example of the genre. These sudden transformations, only to be
accounted for by an extreme nervous susceptibility, always continued to characterize the girl, though
with diminished frequency as her health progressively grew more robust. Condition: GOOD. Spine
creases, wear to binding and pages from reading. Yesterday, her cheek was pale, to-day, it had a
bloom. Not only is it a faster paced, less obtuse work than some he's done, it's also a delightfully
Gothic mystery and an interesting commentary on philanthropy and utopianism. But it was fortunate
for us, on that wintry eve of our untried life, to enjoy the warm and radiant luxury of a somewhat
too abundant fire. I couldn't give it one star because it wasn't utterly horrible, but, put it this way.I
don't have the desire to ever read it again. 3 likes Like Comment K.M. Weiland Author 33 books
2,393 followers January 23, 2014 To put it mildly, Hawthorne can be a bit of a slog. Pike, George S.
Hillard, James T. Fields, Henry Fothergill Chorley, and others that suggest The Blithedale Romance
’s initial reception. “Selections from Classic Studies” reprints key excerpts from influential essays
published through the 1970s, including those by Henry James, D. H. Lawrence, Irving Howe, and
James McIntosh. “Recent Criticism” collects a striking range of scholarly interpretation by Nina
Baym, Joel Pfister, Gillian Brown, Richard H. The homely simplicity of her dress could not conceal,
nor scarcely diminish, the queenliness of her presence. She was dressed as simply as possible, in an
American print (I think the dry-goods people call it so), but with a silken kerchief, between which
and her gown there was one glimpse of a white shoulder. Fourier thought that life could be optimized
through a kind of rationalistic social engineering, the basic living unit of which he called the
“phalanstere.” The hilarious (hilarious in that subtle, dowdy, Puritan way that was uniquely
Hawthorne’s) part is that, once everyone in Blithedale is introduced into the mix, tensions, different
ideas, passions, and ideologies start to bubble to the surface showing just what a pipedream
Fourier’s utopia really is. After she had been a month or two at Blithedale, her animal spirits waxed
high, and kept her pretty constantly in a state of bubble and ferment, impelling her to far more bodily
activity than she had yet strength to endure. Possible ex library copy, will have the markings and
stickers associated from the library. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe
before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Our labor symbolized nothing, and left us mentally
sluggish in the dusk of the evening. There, he witnesses confrontation when Zenobia asks whom
Hollingsworth really loves, herself or Priscilla. It was while I sat beside him on his cobbler's bench, or
clinked my hoe against his own in the cornfield, or broke the same crust of bread, my earth-grimed
hand to his, at our noontide lunch. And I also did not expect it to be such a soap opera like story
haha. On all sides I could hear the creaking of the bedsteads, as the brethren of Blithedale started
from slumber, and thrust themselves into their habiliments, all awry, no doubt, in their haste to begin
the reformation of the world. The importance of not confusing the narrator with the author is also
key, unless we are to remember Hawthorne as a pompous fool who misunderstood the motivations of
everyone around him - probably not his intent, as the portrayal of such a self-satisfied narrator is one
of the formal innovations that has made the book significant. 4 likes Like Comment Thomas 499
reviews 83 followers April 27, 2017 I loved the prose style and the ambiguity of Miles Coverdale,
the narrator, who is aptly named. Americans fear the alternative.shunning and criticism and
poverty.so they see the radical and just readjustment of society's power (aka money) as a threat
instead of a basic benefit. First American edition, later printing. A20.2.1. A handsome copy of
Hawthorne's account of his frustrating times at Brook Farm, an early experiment in a utopian
community where intellectuals would both work and think, which he believed destroyed his
thinking. It seems the old man needed a favor but Coverdale felt it would be too much trouble to
himself to grant the request. He put it inside the struggles of the characters to get their needs met.
He’s a poet so isn’t accustomed to the rigorous work of agricultural life which meets him when he
gets there.
The remainder of the party adjourned to the sitting- room. Good Mrs. Foster took her knitting-work,
and soon fell fast asleep, still keeping her needles in brisk movement, and, to the best of my
observation, absolutely footing a stocking out of the texture of a dream. Here, the narrator, Miles
Coverdale, a self-satisfied bachelor who likes his comfort and his drinks, sets out on a summer's
sojourn to Blithedale, a back-to-the-land commune. Coverdale spends a lot of time wondering about
Zenobia’s sexual history because she acts more like a young wife than a chaste maiden. He arrives at
Blithedale Farm after a walk in a snowstorm and anticipates—accurately, as it turns out—that he will
be sick on the next day. It's not the equal of The Scarlet Letter, so it doesn't transcend its era as
effortlessly. It was our purpose—a generous one, certainly, and absurd, no doubt, in full proportion
with its generosity—to give up whatever we had heretofore attained, for the sake of showing
mankind the example of a life governed by other than the false and cruel principles on which human
society has all along been based. His friend Hollingsworth is not even as likable as Coverdale, and he
is obsessed with the idea of creating his own projects, insisting on trying to convince everyone
around him to help him achieve his goals. Beautiful and wealthy Zenobia emerges as a confident,
outspoken woman of the times, well aware of the impact of her charms. Waif-like Priscilla is timid
and impressionable, and she is influenced by both Hollingsworth and Zenobia. A suicide ends the
book on a grim note, with a kind of afterthought by Miles that his own fault was in being too passive
and withdrawing from interaction with others. Certainly this old man plays a most important role
later. But there was something of the woman moulded into the great, stalwart frame of
Hollingsworth; nor was he ashamed of it, as men often are of what is best in them, nor seemed ever
to know that there was such a soft place in his heart. The importance of not confusing the narrator
with the author is also key, unless we are to remember Hawthorne as a pompous fool who
misunderstood the motivations of everyone around him - probably not his intent, as the portrayal of
such a self-satisfied narrator is one of the formal innovations that has made the book significant. 4
likes Like Comment Thomas 499 reviews 83 followers April 27, 2017 I loved the prose style and the
ambiguity of Miles Coverdale, the narrator, who is aptly named. But, after all, I have many precious
recollections connected with that fit of sickness. There are two other minor characters who are
important to the plot of the story, Professor Westervelt, and Mr. Moodie. The plot, readers will
discern, concern the mysterious pre-existing connections that seem to exist between Zenobia and
Priscilla, and indeed, some new connections that begin to surface as the community settles in. It is a
story with fictional events and its own themes, but is also partially a commentary on Brook Farm
and Charles Francois Fourier’s social philosophy. Each stroke of the hoe was to uncover some
aromatic root of wisdom, heretofore hidden from the sun. Much of Hawthorne's writing centers
around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. It startled me
sometimes, in my state of moral as well as bodily faint-heartedness, to observe the hardihood of her
philosophy. It could be, perhaps, due to the style of narration (this one is written in a first person,
and Miles Coverdale is definitely representative of an “unreliable” narrator of sorts) as well as
characters who did not strike me as noteworthy. Firstly, I have a particular interest in stories about
communal life since I came close to joining a commune when I was a teenager. It did one good to see
a fine intellect (as hers really was, although its natural tendency lay in another direction than towards
literature) so fitly cased. To this point, the plot has been fairly straightforward, but here the novel
takes an odd turn and grafts a gothic back story onto the main plot. Return nearly all items within 30
days of delivery. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. As the
work went on, I remembered to have seen just such purses before; indeed, I was the possessor of
one. Overall I really enjoyed it, and if you want to start reading more classics, I think this is a great
place to start since it is so short:) classics read-in-english school-reads 5 likes Like Comment Mark
467 reviews 11 followers September 29, 2021 At the start of The Blithedale Romance, the first-
person narrator, Miles Coverdale, is about to forsake city life and join a group of people bent on
establishing a rural utopian community at a place called Blithedale Farm. As Coverdale predicted, he
develops a bad cold overnight and the next morning he’s wracked with a painful fever and can’t get
out of bed. Pike, George S. Hillard, James T. Fields, Henry Fothergill Chorley, and others that
suggest The Blithedale Romance ’s initial reception. “Selections from Classic Studies” reprints key
excerpts from influential essays published through the 1970s, including those by Henry James, D. H.
Lawrence, Irving Howe, and James McIntosh. “Recent Criticism” collects a striking range of
scholarly interpretation by Nina Baym, Joel Pfister, Gillian Brown, Richard H. Of course—permit
me to say you do not think of relinquishing an occupation in which you have done yourself so much
credit. But by and by you missed the tenderness of yesterday, and grew drearily conscious that
Hollingsworth had a closer friend than ever you could be; and this friend was the cold, spectral
monster which he had himself conjured up, and on which he was wasting all the warmth of his heart,
and of which, at last,—as these men of a mighty purpose so invariably do,—he had grown to be the
bond-slave.
What is this reactionary terror of social justice about. Priscilla's life, as I beheld it, was full of trifles
that affected me in just this way. At present, though with no approach to bloom, there were
indications that the girl had human blood in her veins. Some of the twists, as well as the ending,
surprised me. She assures him that she’ll be fine but she takes off her flower and tells him to tell
Hollingsworth that he’s killed her. The characters are credible and memorably portrayed. This
dawning idea, however, was driven back into my inner consciousness by the entrance of Zenobia.
Neither did I refrain from questioning, in secret, whether some of us—and Zenobia among the
rest— would so quietly have taken our places among these good people, save for the cherished
consciousness that it was not by necessity but choice. But here was the vortex of my meditations,
around which they revolved, and whitherward they too continually tended. Our Teacher Edition on
The Blithedale Romance makes teaching easy. He arrives at Blithedale Farm after a walk in a
snowstorm and anticipates—accurately, as it turns out—that he will be sick on the next day. The
possibility that others could be helped in some way. I know not well how to express that the native
glow of coloring in her cheeks, and even the flesh-warmth over her round arms, and what was visible
of her full bust,—in a word, her womanliness incarnated,—compelled me sometimes to close my
eyes, as if it were not quite the privilege of modesty to gaze at her. Perhaps my motivations for
reading this novel slightly soured my experience of it because the story is more Romance than it is
about the actual community of Blithedale. Firstly, I have a particular interest in stories about
communal life since I came close to joining a commune when I was a teenager. The mystery of the
Veiled Lady, the activity of the experimental community farm, and the inevitable tensions between
the main characters make for a lively story. Americans fear the alternative.shunning and criticism and
poverty.so they see the radical and just readjustment of society's power (aka money) as a threat
instead of a basic benefit. Young men and boys, on the other hand, play, according to recognized
law, old, traditionary games, permitting no caprioles of fancy, but with scope enough for the outbreak
of savage instincts. Persons of marked individuality—crooked sticks, as some of us might be
called—are not exactly the easiest to bind up into a fagot. Coverdale, as a narrator, is a passive
presence and at times is somewhat of a creeper. It may be that the frustrations of living in an
imperfect world cause some to seek a new way of life, by forming a community of like-minded
optimists, to live closer to the earth and pursue common ideals. But few details are given about the
structure of the community or its core values. Then we had boarders, from town and elsewhere, who
lived with us in a familiar way, sympathized more or less in our theories, and sometimes shared in
our labors. At one point, Westervelt unexpectedly shows up at the farm, and Coverdale sees him and
Zenobia in a clandestine meeting. First American edition, later printing. A20.2.1. A handsome copy
of Hawthorne's account of his frustrating times at Brook Farm, an early experiment in a utopian
community where intellectuals would both work and think, which he believed destroyed his
thinking. Why could not she have allowed one of the other women to take the gruel in charge. The
action seemed proper to her character, although, methought, it would still more have befitted the
bounteous nature of this beautiful woman to scatter fresh flowers from her hand, and to revive faded
ones by her touch. They were mostly individuals who had gone through such an experience as to
disgust them with ordinary pursuits, but who were not yet so old, nor had suffered so deeply, as to
lose their faith in the better time to come. Coverdale, the naive narrator in search of an agrarian
source of truth, discovers Blithedale (the name itself should set off bells of suspicion), a community
built around the ideals of Fourier, the utopian French social theorist. What wonder, then, should we
be frightened by the aspect of a monster, which, after all,—though we can point to every feature of
his deformity in the real personage,—may be said to have been created mainly by ourselves.
Pausing in the field, to let the wind exhale the moisture from our foreheads, we were to look
upward, and catch glimpses into the far-off soul of truth. He can't help thinking about these people
and wonders what is going to happen tot hem. The points easiest to convey to the reader were a
certain curve of the shoulders and a partial closing of the eyes, which seemed to look more
penetratingly into my own eyes, through the narrowed apertures, than if they had been open at full
width. I know not well how to express that the native glow of coloring in her cheeks, and even the
flesh-warmth over her round arms, and what was visible of her full bust,—in a word, her
womanliness incarnated,—compelled me sometimes to close my eyes, as if it were not quite the
privilege of modesty to gaze at her. His preface also makes it explicitly clear, however, that the
Blithedale community and its inhabitants are not a cloned knock-off of Brook Farm and its people,
and that his intention in writing the book is neither to attack nor defend Utopian socialism as such.
Accordingly the tender passion was very rife among us, in various degrees of mildness or virulence,
but mostly passing away with the state of things that had given it origin. The storm, the startling
knock at the door, the entrance of the sable knight Hollingsworth and this shadowy snow-maiden,
who, precisely at the stroke of midnight, shall melt away at my feet in a pool of ice- cold water and
give me my death with a pair of wet slippers. The main character, Miles Coverdale, embarks on a
quest for the betterment of the world through the agrarian lifestyle and community of the Blithedale
Farm. What, in the name of common-sense, had I to do with any better society than I had always
lived in. In a way, I thought this one looks to be the least depressing but. This is always true of those
men who have surrendered themselves to an overruling purpose. He also becomes exasperated with
Zenobia who seems to have given her heart to Hollingsworth and worse, is taking advantage of the
strangely passive Priscilla. Scholars continually probe the intersection between fiction and nonfiction,
attempting to ascertain what is based on Hawthorne's time at Brook Farm versus what was
embellished or invented by the author.Contemporary critics were not sure that it measured up to The
Scarlet Letter (1850), with some focusing on its tragic nature and the plot being unrealistic. When
such begins to be the predicament, it is not cowardice, but wisdom, to avoid these victims. They have
no heart, no sympathy, no reason, no conscience. The narrative arc is not atypical of romance, but the
novel turns out to be more of a psychological portrait of Coverdale than a finely polished example of
the genre. There is nothing so pleasant and encouraging to a solitary traveller, on a stormy night, as a
flood of firelight seen amid the gloom. Only he never truly believes in the project, makes sarcastic
remarks about the other members, their beliefs, even himself throughout the story; and is generally a
cruel and unlikable wolf in sheep's clothing.He also becomes quite obsessed with the two main
female characters, Zenobia and Priscilla. Such casual circumstances as were here involved would
quicken his divine power of sympathy, and make him seem, while their influence lasted, the
tenderest man and the truest friend on earth. However, rather than dropping bad habits and changing
the world, Coverdale the prurient bachelor, Hollingsworth the furious philanthropist, Zenobia the
voluptuous feminist, and Priscilla the vulnerable seamstress soon find themselves pursuing egotistical
paths which must lead ultimately to tragedy. The Blithedale Romance is an entertaining read, and a
fairly fast one. It seems the old man needed a favor but Coverdale felt it would be too much trouble
to himself to grant the request. In my own behalf, I rejoice that I could once think better of the
world's improvability than it deserved. Coverdale mourns that Blithedale proved to be such a failure.
Then we had boarders, from town and elsewhere, who lived with us in a familiar way, sympathized
more or less in our theories, and sometimes shared in our labors. Project Gutenberg is a trusted book
provider of classic ebooks, supporting thousands of volunteers in the creation and distribution of over
60,000 free eBooks. Coverdale's narration has a dreamlike quality to it, leading many to label the
work as a romance.One of the notable aspects of the novel is that it is based off of Hawthorne's own
short-lived experience at Brook Farm, where he spent a few months in 1841 (see Additional
Content). They fed me on water-gruel, and I speedily became a skeleton above ground. I also think
he brings out the strengths and weaknesses of the ideal through this bit of fiction, though he could
have been a bit more innovative with the plot. You will make your toilet for the day (still like this
delightful Silas Foster) by rinsing your fingers and the front part of your face in a little tin pan of
water at the doorstep, and teasing your hair with a wooden pocket-comb before a seven-by-nine-
inch looking-glass. It was while I sat beside him on his cobbler's bench, or clinked my hoe against his
own in the cornfield, or broke the same crust of bread, my earth-grimed hand to his, at our noontide
lunch.
The mystery of the Veiled Lady, the activity of the experimental community farm, and the inevitable
tensions between the main characters make for a lively story. The next evening, Zenobia tells the
group a story about the mysterious Veiled Lady who disappeared at the height of her popularity: a
young man named Theodore took a bet that he could find out the Veiled Lady’s true identity and
snuck into her drawing room to spy on her. Not looking forward to the essay I have to write on this.
3 likes Like Comment Laura Leilani 298 reviews 10 followers July 18, 2017 How could such an
interesting subject be made into such a dull tale. It was to be our form of prayer and ceremonial
worship. The storm, in its evening aspect, was decidedly dreary. It was curious to observe how
trustingly, and yet how timidly, our poor Priscilla betook herself into the shadow of Zenobia's
protection. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children. I
have seen him, a hundred times, with a pencil and sheet of paper, sketching the facade, the side-
view, or the rear of the structure, or planning the internal arrangements, as lovingly as another man
might plan those of the projected home where he meant to be happy with his wife and children.
Finally, and as an ultimate catastrophe, these mendacious rogues circulated a report that we
communitarians were exterminated, to the last man, by severing ourselves asunder with the sweep of
our own scythes. His rhythyms, harmonies, and melodies were absolutely ordinary. Not only is it a
faster paced, less obtuse work than some he's done, it's also a delightfully Gothic mystery and an
interesting commentary on philanthropy and utopianism. There was the more danger of this,
inasmuch as the footing on which we all associated at Blithedale was widely different from that of
conventional society. It was purely speculative, for I should not, under any circumstances, have
fallen in love with Zenobia. Coverdale talks with some of the other people who have just moved to
Blithedale until Zenobia —a beautiful writer and social reformer with a reputation as a women’s
rights advocate—comes in to greet them. Overall I really enjoyed it, and if you want to start reading
more classics, I think this is a great place to start since it is so short:) classics read-in-english school-
reads 5 likes Like Comment Mark 467 reviews 11 followers September 29, 2021 At the start of The
Blithedale Romance, the first-person narrator, Miles Coverdale, is about to forsake city life and join
a group of people bent on establishing a rural utopian community at a place called Blithedale Farm.
In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia
Peabody the next year. She immediately set out to meet him, running and skipping, with spirits as
light as the breeze of the May morning, but with limbs too little exercised to be quite responsive; she
clapped her hands, too, with great exuberance of gesture, as is the custom of young girls when their
electricity overcharges them. The reason for my four star rating is because of his writing. I loved it.
His imagery was poetic, but not overly so, with enough rambling descriptions of nature to make him
Romantic, but not enough to make him Transcendental (as far as I understand Transcendentalism).
I've read it twice, originally around 1970 and later in 1998, when I was teaching American Literature
as a homeschooling parent and felt I needed a refresher. I suppose the premise is interesting: the
story of a utopia called Blithedale, and the ways in which people morph themselves to fit this new
life. On Coverdale’s first day out of bed after his illness, he finds Zenobia decorating Priscilla with
twigs full of blossoms and buds. What I have unpacked here is just what jumped out at me the most.
Even Coverdale thinks favorably of Hollingsworth, especially after the latter nursed him through his
initial illness. We sought our profit by mutual aid, instead of wresting it by the strong hand from an
enemy, or filching it craftily from those less shrewd than ourselves (if, indeed, there were any such
in New England), or winning it by selfish competition with a neighbor; in one or another of which
fashions every son of woman both perpetrates and suffers his share of the common evil, whether he
chooses it or no. Had Hollingsworth's education been more enlarged, he might not so inevitably have
stumbled into this pitfall. Of course—permit me to say you do not think of relinquishing an
occupation in which you have done yourself so much credit. But, so long as our union should
subsist, a man of intellect and feeling, with a free nature in him, might have sought far and near
without finding so many points of attraction as would allure him hitherward. It seems the old man
needed a favor but Coverdale felt it would be too much trouble to himself to grant the request. A
little parallelogram of sky was all that she had hitherto known of nature, so that she felt the
awfulness that really exists in its limitless extent. Hawthorne defends himself against as-yet-
unleveled accusations of beig an apologist for Socialism in choosing to write about Brook Farm at all.
But for the initiate, this is some excellent storytelling. 19 likes Like Comment David Huff 155
reviews 49 followers April 8, 2017 Mankind has always had, and will always have, a penchant for
utopian dreams of one sort or another. Constituting so pitiful a minority as now, we were inevitably
estranged from the rest of mankind in pretty fair proportion with the strictness of our mutual bond
among ourselves. It now appeared that poor Priscilla had not so literally fallen out of the clouds, as
we were at first inclined to suppose. He goes so far as to say he hopes other specific members of
Brook Farm, the real-life communiity Hawthorne lived in during 1841-1842, will write the definitive
books about it. Ha. He's already done it. But this was pure envy and malice on the part of the
neighboring farmers. A suicide ends the book on a grim note, with a kind of afterthought by Miles
that his own fault was in being too passive and withdrawing from interaction with others.
Coincidentally, the paths of these four people quickly cross again. This Norton Critical Edition of
The Blithedale Romance is based on the Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne,
widely considered the best available edition. At one point, Westervelt unexpectedly shows up at the
farm, and Coverdale sees him and Zenobia in a clandestine meeting. Zenobia, I suspect, would have
given her eyes, bright as they were, for such a look; it was the least that our poor Priscilla could do,
to give her heart for a great many of them. A doctor was sent for, who, being homaeopathic, gave me
as much medicine, in the course of a fortnight's attendance, as would have laid on the point of a
needle. The mystery of the Veiled Lady, the activity of the experimental community farm, and the
inevitable tensions between the main characters make for a lively story. We sometimes hold mirth to
a stricter accountability than sorrow; it must show good cause, or the echo of its laughter comes back
drearily. Most of the other characters in the novel took actions, yes, but out of motivations of pride
and selfishness. Our Teacher Edition on The Blithedale Romance makes teaching easy. I suppose the
premise is interesting: the story of a utopia called Blithedale, and the ways in which people morph
themselves to fit this new life. He can't make up his mind about anything, and somehow this doesn't
bother him. To this point, the plot has been fairly straightforward, but here the novel takes an odd
turn and grafts a gothic back story onto the main plot. The men fish around in the water for a while
before they discover Zenobia’s body at the bottom of the pond. She assures him that she’ll be fine
but she takes off her flower and tells him to tell Hollingsworth that he’s killed her. Hawthorne isn't
on board with this, it becomes obvious, though he plays by the rules of his time. From that instant,
too, she melted in quietly amongst us, and was no longer a foreign element. Firstly, I have a
particular interest in stories about communal life since I came close to joining a commune when I was
a teenager. I often thought him so, with the expression of tender human care and gentlest sympathy
which she alone seemed to have power to call out upon his features. He can't help thinking about
these people and wonders what is going to happen tot hem. George Ripley, the founder of Brook
Farm, wanted the residents to be able to combine intellectual and creative pursuits with manual labor.
Coverdale talks with some of the other people who have just moved to Blithedale until Zenobia —a
beautiful writer and social reformer with a reputation as a women’s rights advocate—comes in to
greet them. Even Coverdale thinks favorably of Hollingsworth, especially after the latter nursed him
through his initial illness. This dark romance was not what I was expecting, and that’s probably my
own fault for not understanding the proper meaning of the word “romance” in the title. Here, the
narrator, Miles Coverdale, a self-satisfied bachelor who likes his comfort and his drinks, sets out on a
summer's sojourn to Blithedale, a back-to-the-land commune.