The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne The atmosphere of The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne is dark, meticulously eerie and slow. The story focuses on the murder of two men, centuries ago, the curse placed on the house following that conflict and the repercussions on the current generation. The overall story is like that of a nightmare of utter and complete oppressive darkness. Not so much the fear that comes from images of goblins and monsters, but that feeling of being afraid of the dark; not for what is there, but for what you don't know is there. Hawthorne creates this mood by describing the events that triggered the curse placed on the Pyncheon mansion in the very first chapter, but never reveals more than a piece of the motivations and consequences at a time, throughout the rest of the story. The descriptions of the house deteriorating over the years covered in the book create the feeling of an endless nightmare: despite the mortal man, the house remains as it was from the day it was built and only the external appearance changes. . In fact, since the story focuses on the curse placed on the house, it is almost the main attraction of the story, the other characters only playing supporting roles to show the strength of the dark power the house holds over the members of the Pyncheon Dynasty. . As Hawthorne gives the house human characteristics, “so much of the varied experience of humanity...