The House of the Seven Gables
explain how the cent the child gives hepzibah can be viewed as a tailsman
The House of the Seven Gables
The House of the Seven Gables
The boy's copper coin demolishes Hepzibah's view of herself as a member of the aristocracy. However, although Hepzibah views this as a tragedy, she soon begins to grudgingly accept the view espoused by Holgrave (and Hawthorne). The sale invigorates Hepzibah, giving her "a thrill of almost youthful enjoyment," and her work even threatens to prove the ruin of her elitist moral system.
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