HAWTHORNE’S “WAKEFIELD”—THE MORAL.
HAWTHORNE’S “WAKEFIELD”—THE MORAL. We are not surprised by a moral in a nineteenth century story. Hawthorne makes a point of promising us one: “There will be a pervading spirit and a moral, even should we fail to find them, done up neatly, and condensed into the final sentence.” And the last two sentences give Wakefield’s story significance (as a modern writer like Doctorow would be reluctant to do): “Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one another and to a whole, that, by stepping aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of losing his place forever. Like Wakefield, he may become, as it were, the Outcast of the Universe.”