Hawthorne

You have to figure that Hawthorne was living largely or entirely from earnings from his stories in the 1830s (possible to do in those days) so he developed a formula that worked and kept to it. What are some of the elements?: and old woman obsessed or mad wandering thru the town and tolerated by the townsfolk; and old and abandoned house that mysteriously comes alive when the spirits of long-ago inhabitants manifest themselves; a kindly if somewhat feckless village minister; a pledge or a vow; a legend being retold or recollected (hence title of his first collection , twice-told tales); contempt toward the British and patriotic fervor for the revolutionary heroes and ideals; skepticism about religious fervor or intolerance on any form; acceptance of mystery and spiritualism if not complete credence; to name a few. Many of these elements in the story The White Old Maid - along with a well-constructed narrative (line from first par reappears surprisingly in last) and a haunting ambiguity as story is seen from pov of outsiders and not from the central characters so we are not sure precisely what occurred between the two "maids."

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