Little Annie’s Ramble

Little Annie’s Ramble, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story to me that seems one way yet as you continue to read it, it shed light on such a darker tone. In a way, this story can give off two different vibes, an innocent on as well as a darker one. With the darker version, the reader can get a perverse feeling towards that man who is so infatuated with Annie. While going through the streets, the man mentions that “there are a few grown ladies that could entice me from the side of little Annie,” which in a way sounds extremely creepy due to the fact that it seems as though the man in more interested in a little girl. The man is too infatuated with the little girl that even grown women seems to show no interest for him. Does this man know what he is doing and is he doing this on purpose?

For a more innocent approach, one can read this story as a man simply enjoying the company of a young child just so he can enjoy his childhood once again or perhaps the feeling of having a daughter. He takes her off to an adventure just like how any dad would take his daughter out to spoil her. But then again, why didn’t he tell her mother of the adventure?