Passages of Focus
“Here is a shop to which the recollections of my boyhood, as well as present partialities, give a peculiar magic. How delightful to let the fancy revel on the dainties of a confectioner; those pies, with such white and flaky paste, their contents being a mystery, whether rich mince, with whole plums intermixed, or piquant apple, delicately rose-flavored; those cakes, heart-shaped or round, piled in a lofty pyramid; those sweet little circlets, sweetly named kisses; those dark majestic masses, fit to be bridal loaves at the wedding of an heiress, mountains in size, their summits deeply snow-covered with sugar!”
“As the pure breath of children revives the life of aged men, so is our moral nature revived by their free and simple thoughts, their native feeling, their airy mirth, for little cause or none, their grief, soon roused and soon allayed. Their influence on us is at least reciprocal with ours on them. When our infancy is almost forgotten, and our boyhood long departed, though it seems but as yesterday; when life settles darkly down upon us, and we doubt whether to call ourselves young anymore; then it is good to steal away from the society of bearded men, and even of gentler woman, and spend an hour or two with children.”
Analysis
After reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Little Annie’s Ramble”, I decided to use the “archeological dig” method to analyze the two excerpts above. I chose to look at both excerpts because I feel as though the first segment can be used as a lens to understand the second, which I found to be the portion that identifies the central idea of the piece. While looking at the first excerpt, there is a blatant and almost overwhelming presence of details. In this section, the narrator goes into deep levels of detail in describing when he and “little Annie” go into a bake shop. Cakes and pies are not merely “cakes” and “pies”. They are described with phrases like “such white and flaky paste, their contents being a mystery” and “sweet little circlets, sweetly named kisses; those dark majestic masses”. Hawthorne’s immense attention to detail plays an important role in the development of the story’s tone. This piece has an overall feeling of poetic awe and intrigue. Not only is this first segment filled with powerful details and expression but also the entire piece as well. These tonal elements are a reflection of the feelings of our childhood.
When we take a look at the second excerpt, we can see that the magical and wonderstruck tones of the piece are intended to express an overall theme. This piece is an observation of the power of childhood innocence. This theme is brought together in the second excerpt, explaining that the way that little Annie feels throughout the piece, how everything around her contains beauty and a majestic quality, is due to the fact that “life has not settle[d] darkly down upon [her].” Hawthorne claims that being exposed to the “free and simple thoughts” of children helps to “revive” the sense of morality in one’s adult life.
I like the way you put the two quotes together. I agree that the first quote has a lot of detail and really reflects how one feels about their childhood. I can relate, for example, when explaining to someone my favorite old bakery from my childhood, I do mention the smell, the way the sun gazes into the building, the sounds I hear, and the taste and look of what I order. Attention to detail just shows you care and that it is important to you. The theme of childhood innocence makes sense here. Knowing that when you think back at a memory or something from our childhoods, it’s never negative. Even if it’s a bad moment in our lives, we truly do remember the good. As children, we do not see the unhappy couple or employer at the bakery, but the sugary goodness and smell of the food. It is always refreshing to think back at old memories when we were younger, because it always feels like it was a happier time.