The Ambitious Guest

“Though they dwelt in such a solitude, these people held daily converse with the world. The romantic pass of the Notch is a great artery, through which the life-blood of internal commerce is continually throbbing between Maine, on one side, and the Green Mountains and the shores of the St. Lawrence, on the other.”

The metaphor of the Notch as a “great artery” establishes the importance of this part of the White Mountains. Furthermore, it anthropomorphizes the Notch, giving it a sense of agency and power. Throughout the story, Hawthorne’s personification of the mountain and the elements emphasizes humans’ vulnerability against nature’s might.

“When the footsteps were heard, therefore, between the outer door and the inner one, the whole family rose up, grandmother, children, and all, as if about to welcome someone who belonged to them, and whose fate was linked with theirs.”

This excerpt demonstrates the narrator’s omniscience and Hawthorne’s use of irony. While the phrase “whose fate was linked with theirs” sounds warm and inviting in the beginning, the words take on a different, darker meaning in light of the ending, where the family and the guest die together.

“I am quite benumbed; for the Notch is just like the pipe of a great pair of bellows; it has blown a terrible blast in my face all the way from Bartlett.”

Hawthorne uses figurative language to capture the essence of the Notch. Here, the simile comparing the Notch to the pipe on a bellows, a device that blows air into the fire, highlights the aggressiveness of the wind at the Notch. The wind’s fury connects to the theme of Human Beings Versus Nature.

“‘The old mountain has thrown a stone at us, for fear we should forget him,’ said the landlord, recovering himself. ‘He sometimes nods his head and threatens to come down, but we are old neighbours, and agree together pretty well upon the whole. Besides we have a sure place of refuge hard by if he should be coming in good earnest.’”

The father humanizes the mountain to maintain a sense of control over his surroundings. He claims that he and the mountain are “old neighbours” to create a sense of familiarity. Likewise, he understates the power of the mountain by likening rocks sliding down the mountainside to someone throwing stones at the house. In addition, the father’s assurance that they have “a sure place of refuge” contains both irony and foreshadowing because the characters perish when they attempt to flee to this purportedly unassailable shelter.

“He was of a proud, yet gentle spirit—haughty and reserved among the rich and great; but ever ready to stoop his head to the lowly cottage door, and be like a brother or a son at the poor man's fireside.”

Through juxtapositions such as “proud” and “gentle,” “haughty” and “ready to stoop his head,” Hawthorne creates a nuanced picture of the guest. Like the descriptions of the family, the details about the guest foster sympathy for him in the reader and make his death more impactful.

“But this evening a prophetic sympathy impelled the refined and educated youth to pour out his heart before the simple mountaineers, and constrained them to answer him with the same free confidence.”

The phrase “prophetic sympathy” reflects the narrator’s omniscient perspective. The narrator foreshadows the climax by creating a sense of familiarity between the guest and the family because of their shared fate.

“But I cannot die till I have achieved my destiny. Then, let Death come! I shall have built my monument!”

Hubris and ambition color the speech of the guest. He expresses his desire to build his “monument” and seems certain that he can hold back death until he achieves his desire. His lofty yet doomed wishes contribute to the themes of Ambition Versus Fate and The Desire to Conquer Death.

“One and all seemed to have caught the infection from the fireside circle, and were outvying each other in wild wishes, and childish projects, of what they would do when they came to be men and women. At length, a little boy, instead of addressing his brothers and sisters, called out to his mother. ‘I’ll tell you what I wish, mother,’ cried he. ‘I want you and father and grandma, and all of us, and the stranger too, to start right away, and go and take a drink out of the basin of the Flume!’”

Everyone in the family, including the young children, is engrossed in sharing their ambitions with each other. However, there is a darker undertone to this scene. Hawthorne again foreshadows the climax of the story by giving the little boy a prophetic wish. If the guest and the family had gone to the Flume rather than laughing at the strangeness of his desire, they would have been safe from the landslide.

“There was a wail along the road as if a funeral were passing. To chase away the gloom, the family threw pine branches on their fire, till the dry leaves crackled and the flame arose, discovering once again a scene of peace and humble happiness.”

The wailing of the wind foreshadows the upcoming deaths, as if the wind is moaning in grief over the loss of the family. However, the family ignores the warning, and the sound of the wailing wind is juxtaposed against the image of “peace and humble happiness” inside the house.

“Then the same shriek burst simultaneously from all their lips. ‘The Slide! The Slide!’”

In this moment, the safety of the controlled environment inside the house breaks for all the characters. While the wind wails outside, the family members inside the house shriek, bridging the gap between the domestic space and the natural world.

“Just before it reached the house, the stream broke into two branches—shivered not a window there, but overwhelmed the whole vicinity, blocked up the road, and annihilated everything in its dreadful course.”

The sudden change in the landslide’s trajectory gives it a sense of malice and intent, as if the landslide changed course to strike the family and the guest. The characters’ demise marks the story’s climax and the culmination of the theme of Human Beings Versus Nature. In addition, it is ironic that the family flees from the house because the landslide leaves it perfectly intact, as shown by the description “shivered not a window there.”

“The next morning, the light smoke was seen stealing from the cottage chimney up the mountain side. Within, the fire was yet smouldering on the hearth, and the chairs in a circle round it, as if the inhabitants had but gone forth to view the devastation of the Slide, and would shortly return, to thank Heaven for their miraculous escape.”

Ironically, the fire that the family lit to make themselves feel safe is still burning, while the family is dead. Ultimately, it is the smoke that alerts people that something is wrong with the family, and it makes the scene inside the house all the more shocking for onlookers, who are struck by its domesticity.

“Who has not heard their name? The story has been told far and wide, and will forever be a legend of these mountains. Poets have sung their fate.”

While the name of the guest is forgotten, the family has become famous after their death. It is doubly ironic because the family didn’t want fame as much as the guest, who seems to be forgotten, and because the family is not famous for what the father wanted to be known for. Rather than being famous for his honesty and his life as a good Christian, the family members are known for their tragic deaths.