The article entitled “Wakefield’s Second Journey” written by Roberta F. Weldon argues that Nathaniel Hawthorne writes the character of Howard Wakefield and his “second journey” to explain that this journey is “necessary to achieve the final reconciliation with oneself before the fullness of age and death” (Weldon 69). Weldon explains in further detail Hawthorne’s usage of details to enthrall the reader into the story, in addition to the use of specific perspectives.
Weldon’s emphasis on Hawthorne’s presentation of the story explains to the audience how to be enticing to the audience. Weldon explains that Hawthorne had written the initial part of the story to be direct, so that the “tone of the first part draws us gradually into the story,” which also helps the audience conceptualize the information that is being presented (Weldon 70).
Weldon continues this thought process by providing additional details concerning Hawthorne’s argument about Wakefield’s character, one of which being that ‘society has more readily accepted the necessity of a journey for a young individual who is seeking a place in society than for a mature person who has a social role and is questioning its value,” which, in turn, shows the discourse that comes with building a story with such a challenging character (Weldon 70).
Nevertheless, that is what makes Hawthorne’s adaptation of Wakefield so enticing to Weldon. The usage of advanced characteristics and the idea that this ‘second journey’ is not typical to a standard reader.
讲故事的观点对于维持读者的兴趣至关重要。Weldon解释了Hawthorne对视角的用法如何提高故事的复杂特征Wakefield. Within the article, Weldon elaborates on Hawthorne’s usage of the character, Howard Wakefield, and how the character’s perspective is not supposed to be something relatable to the general reader.
尽管如此，他还是释放了读者“从他的主角承认任何个人身份”（Weldon 71）。基于大多数主角是读者想要与之建立联系的人，这是对主角的描述的一种有趣的看法。在这种情况下，情况相反。韦克菲尔德（Wakefield）角色的描述为韦尔登（Weldon）提出了关于“第二旅程”的想法，以及这种特定类型的故事如何使读者令人着迷。
Weldon completes the analysis of Hawthorne’s characterization as ‘a man living the buried life, experiencing neither deep feeling or freshness and activity of thought,” which further encapsulates the idea that Hawthorne’s character is experiencing something that most readers were to understand only happens in the earlier stages of youth, rather than the later stages (Weldon71).
Overall, Weldon’s article “Wakefield’s Second Journey” depicts the ideology of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s characterization of Howard Wakefield, as the pinnacle’ second journey’ that completes a fulfilling story for the reader. Weldon’s emphasis on explaining characterized perspective and the usage of details for the purpose of enticing the reader into an uncommon story.
Works Cited
Hawthorne’s “Wakefield” from “Wakefield’s Second Journey” by Robert F. Weldon in the winter 1977 edition of Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 14, issue 1, 69-74).
