Typically stories follow a prescribed pattern that includes a beginning, followed by rising action (something exciting), a climatic event at the middle and then falling action as the situation in the story resolves. However, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, Wakefield, uses a different structure to bring the reader to the desired conclusion.
The Plot on a Platter
Hawthorne gives his reader the entire plot of his story on a platter in the beginning paragraph. Because the narrator summarizes the entire story for the reader immediately after the introduction, the opening paragraph removes the elements of surprise and suspense that are typically expected in a short story.
The narrator shares the plot under the introductory remarks of “I recollect a story, told as truth.” He then shares the interesting story about a man who executes a freakish whim by leaving his wife for 20 years, and then spends the entire time a block away, observing her life. After the passage of 20 years, when the memory of him had faded and all expectation had died, he walks into the house and resumes his life where he left off and is a faithful husband for the remainder of his days.
The narrator begins the story with a traditional introduction of an ordinary, happily married man of middle-years. However, the reader is not allowed to judge the character’s merits because the narrator moves swiftly on and tells the reader that this man, Wakefield, “absented himself for a long time, from his wife.”
The events surrounding this remarkable circumstance are swiftly passed over, and the ending is revealed when the narrator concludes the details by saying, “He entered the door one evening, quietly, as from a day's absence, and became a loving spouse till death.” After being force fed the entire plot in one short paragraph, the unfortunate reader is left to puzzle out what the meaning of this story could be.
Bones to Chew on
By serving both the appetizer and the main course of the story in the first paragraph, Hawthorne forces the reader to spend the rest of the allotted pages gnawing on the bones. Bones are, after all, the moral and purpose that the audience is meant to digest and remember.
Hawthorne’s narrator pleasantly invites the listener to join him in discovering what the moral should be “I bid him welcome; trusting that there will be a pervading spirit and moral, even should we fail to find them, done up neatly and condensed into the final sentence. Thought has always its efficacy, and every striking incident its moral.”
The narrator warns the reader that the moral will be found throughout the entire story and not just at the end. So while the story has already been given away, it is worth the reader’s time to consider the entire incident through the narrator’s words and suppositions. So Hawthorne’s narrator invites the reader to spend the rest of his time chewing on bones.
Sucking out the marrow
The narrator goes on to retell the story he just summarized. Because the narrator has already told the story once, he takes the liberty of retelling it with his own opinions, suppositions, and moralizations injected into the now-familiar plot. The listener already knows the plot, so he is able to focus more on details and on what the narrator is trying to say.
As a result, the reader’s effort goes not into digesting plot and character but sucking the marrow out of the bones and interpreting the underlying issues in the story.
Sources
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Twice-Told Tales. Readers Digest Association. 1989.
Melissa Howard - I am a stay-at-home Mom. My college education was in English and History and my last job was as a Technical Writer. Now that I ...
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