Final Overview: The House of the Seven Gables & Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

     Reading through these two very different masterpieces has been a significant point in my journey through literature. Both have left deep impressions on my beauty-appreciative soul. Both essential meaning and the true commotion of life is brought to life through the wise lenses of these two very different authors. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables explores the effects of previous ancestors on the current generation and the generation's superstitious gossip. Tennessee Williams' Cat On a Hot Tin Roof touches upon the taboo ideas of tender marital issues, homosexuality, impending death, and the reality of inheritance. Both literary works, though miles different in style, have a lot to do with the idea of inheritance and one's effect on the future generation. One could say that this step in my literary journey was an overall preparation for the future and the future generations to come.
     Hawthornes' House of Seven Gables personifies the effect of a previous generation's gossip in such grave detail through delicate, stylish language. When I encountered this piece of work, I became immediately excited and intimidated by the complicated use of language throughout and the metaphorical bombs of wisdom dropped on the reader throughout the novel. This novel wasn't just a challenging piece of work, but an experience. The novel has broadened my horizon of language and fallen right into my line of wisdom. Hawthorne teaches a grand lesson about how what one person says can greatly effect the next generation to come. In this novel's case, those age-old words crafted a sort of "house" of superstition and decay. In his words, "A man will commit almost any wrong—he will heap up an immense pile of wickedness, as hard as granite, . . . only to build a great, gloomy, dark-chambered mansion, for himself to die in, and for his posterity to be miserable in" (269). The gossip and superstitions one creates will leave a dark, lasting impression on the future to come. It crafts a dark undertone that ensures everyone will keep away.
     Where Hawthorne's magnificent novel focuses on the words and rumors surrounding the future generation, Williams' Cat On a Hot Tin Roof focuses more on the insurance of a future generation, accompanying the major idea of having the taboo brought to light. Williams' compelling play may be a speedy read, but it contains some of the most heavy subject matter ever established in another play. The spirit of commotion that Williams tried to capture in his play was the chaos of having one's most taboo secrets brought to light. Not many playwrights attempt to construct a play on a sole, abstract idea, but Williams achieves the true, unstable emotion of being caught in a bad lie very well. However, like Hawthorne, Tennessee Williams also crafts inheritance into the play as an idea. The play focuses more on making sure the next generation is preserved along with marital traditions. As said in the play, marriage falls on the rocks in the bedroom.
     Nathaniel Hawthorne and Tennessee Williams are both fantastic authors, capturing heavy subjects and abstract ideas in very different ways. These literary marvels have helped broaden my range in both elegant language and comprehending the spirit of an utterly abstract emotion. These are truly meaningful literary masterpieces.

Word Count: 500 (minus passage citations)