The Blithedale Romance

A Study Guide

1. Miles Coverdale. Not only the first translator of the Bible into English, but known at least as much for having "popularized" the translation. That is, he attended more to the aesthetic aspects of the translation than to theological accuracy. Many critics also associate Coverdale with Miles Standish, a British soldier (lat., Miles) who helped to "settle" the New World. Standish was a "fop, braggart, authoritarian and impotent lover" (Berlant, p. 57, n. 5). How do these historical persons (characters?) influence our interpretation of Coverdale? More specifically, is Coverdale translating anything? Is he attempting to represent the spiritual realm to the secular masses? Is he nothing more than a fop and a popularizer? Is he, finally, impotent? How does his character effect our sense of the tale he tells?

A. Cover-dale. The name suggests a cover-up. Is our narrator forthright? What might he be covering up? Coverdale seems to use "cover" in another way as well--he watches others from the cover of different hiding places. Colloquially, we call this behavior voyeurism; technically, to be a voyeur seeks to avoid interaction with others, more specifically, being seen by others. While this creates the illusion of power (that the voyeur is somehow controlling others while evading their control), because he acts (hides) according to others (to avoid them), however, he is at best powerless and at worst completely at the mercy of others' activities. How does this concept (voyeurism) fit with Coverdale's character? How does it influence the story he tells (are all storytellers voyeurs?)? How does this accord with the politics of personal liberation or communal utopia?

2. Zenobia. Nina Baym believes that Z represents the eternal feminine: "earthy, maternal, domestic, natural, sensual, brilliant, loving and demanding." On the other hand, Berlant sees her as a more complex character who represents some feminine/feminist (and there is a difference) qualities, but who also represents "the materiality of the world," woman as presence (as opposed to the abstraction of the ideal), as material existence, as "resistance to desire," and, finally, death. How do Z's "feminine" qualities accord with her feminist politics? How does her symbolic relation to death effect her symbolization of the "maternal"?

3. Moodie. This character introduces two components to the text that complicate its role as a social novel: conventions of the mystery genre and elements of "romance." For romance, see Hawthorne's introductory remarks, but know also that most folks distinguish romance from the novel in terms of their relative "realism." Where the novel deals with social events that occur in an everyday fashion, the romance deals in extraordinary events. Where the novel analyzes character in terms of social and historical forces, the romance deals with supernatural or spiritual aspects of personhood. Does Moody and the narrative line he's part of undermine the sociohistorical component of the novel? Does the mystery plot destroy the social commentary of Blithedale?

4. Hollingsworth.Some critics see H as the prototypical American: He seeks to "convert the heathen" and redeem the fallen. His philanthropic project has been interpreted as a mask for the "will to power." Is H the quintessential American (white, male), or is he an aberration? What do you make of the reversal at the conclusion where this most masculine of men depends on the slightest of women? In what ways does H represent stereotypical qualities of masculinity? How does he undermine traditional masculinity?

5. Priscilla. Is she the symbol of femininity--passive, manipulated, vulnerable, innocent, pure? She seems to suffer the control of men in her life for most of the novel--is the conclusion suggesting that her version of femininity triumphs while Z's is doomed to failure? What does that conclusion tell us about cultural responses to women? Is P stronger than she appears?

6. The Veil. What does the veil suggest about personal autonomy and self-determination? What does it suggest about (self) perception? What does the Veil symbolize, i.e., what "force" that interrupts perception and abridges self-determination?

7. Individual v. community. The novel complicates this cliched conflict by pointing to disadvantages on both sides. Clearly, a communal subjectivity (self) compromises personal freedom and will, yet it also offers the ethical benefit of doing well by others. At the same time, individualism offers self-determination, but id complicated by selfishness and the (obsessive) pursuit of personal gain. How does the novel negotiate this conflict? Does it posit some kind of resolution?

8. Material v. spiritual. Another doubled dichotomy. Materialism is related to greed, to the pursuit of material wealth, to the measure of value only in terms of their material measure, yet it also offers "common ground" for all people to recognize (material evidence) and judge. Spirituality gives an intangible value to life, yet it is also beyond public reckoning. One might claim she is God--how can we use spiritual evidence to prove otherwise? How does this conflict appear as a particularly American one? How does the text suggest we resolve this one?