“The Ambitious Guest” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

            “The Ambitious Guest” is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in his collection Twice-Told Tales.  The story tells of a family who lives by themselves in the mountains of New England.  The family entertains lonely guests as they pass through the mountain.  One night a stranger arrives and pours out his emotion to the family, about how he wants to leave a monument to his name and does not want to leave this world without making some sort of memorable impact.  During the discussion, rocks tumble down the mountain, prompting the father to tell the visitor not to worry, that rocks often fall from the mountain, and they have a shelter to flee to in a time of real trouble.  As the night lengthens, the discussion grows deeper and more meaningful—even the children join in from their beds, talking about life after they grow up.  The conversation ends after the grandmother has given a wish for her dying day.  Not long after the conversation ends, “the slide” occurs, and rocks and boulders tumble down the mountain in catastrophic way.  The family and the stranger flee the house toward the safe place but are caught in the slide and killed while the house remains perfectly intact.  Later on, people remember the family for their kindness and hospitality, but no one knew the fate of the stranger or even if a stranger had passed by on that tragic night.

            The overall theme of this story is death and the impact a person leaves behind after death.  The stranger is consumed with the idea that he has to be remembered in the world; however, he painfully realizes that he has made no outstanding contributions to the world for which to be remembered.  The reason for the journey of the man is never disclosed, but he may have been on a journey to find his destiny.  When he finds his destiny, he says he will say, “Let death come!  I shall have built my monument!”  The story also recounts how this man has never allowed himself to become emotionally connected with anyone before; however, he does allow himself to become close to this family.  Perhaps the man’s destiny was to pull down the barrier keeping him from human connection; once he becomes fully a part of the family and embraces his destiny—unknowingly—death answers his call and the rocks slide.  He had built his monument, which was to one family, instead of the whole world.

            The family members also dwell on death and lonesomeness.  The father tells his family of his wish to have some kind of gravestone—whether nice or not—that marks his grave, and the grandmother tells of how she wants someone to hold a mirror in front of her corpse so she can make sure she looks alright.  The stranger announces, “Old and young, we dream of graves and monuments.”  The family—though tucked away in the crevice of a lonely mountain—is seldom lonely because weary travelers pass by often.  They feed and house strangers when needed and make themselves readily available for them.  Even though they live in a lonely place, they are not lonely, in contrast to the stranger, who has lived in busy places but has always been lonely until that night. 

            Another aspect of death that is crafted in this story is its unexpectedness and irony—though all the characters talk about death, the grandmother is the only one who mentions that her grave is not very far away.  The father speaks of when he and his wife are grey-haired, and the stranger speaks of great adventures.  The children do not even think about death but only about their adult life.  Death takes everyone in one instant—the young and old, lonely and not lonely—and leaves only an empty house as a monument.  Also, their death is ironic because they leave the house in search of a safe place when, in reality, the house was their safe place.  This could mean that this family, though they sometimes dream of a life outside their simple home, is meant to play this role in life and that they were fulfilling their own destiny by staying in the house.  The only time they are in trouble is when they leave the house.  The house also stands, then, as a monument to the family.  The stranger leaves no monument for the world; people do not even know if he actually existed or not.  Though death is unexpected for the characters, Hawthorne uses foreshadowing to allow the reader’s to know the characters’ fate.  He asks “Is not the kindred of a common fate a closer tie than that of birth?” when explaining the stranger’s connection to the family.  Also, the stranger’s final words are "I wonder how mariners feel when the ship is sinking, and they, unknown and undistinguished, are to be buried together in the ocean--that wide and nameless sepulchre?"  This implies that all these characters—mostly unknown and undistinguished—are about to be buried together in a wide and nameless place—the mountain—where no one will ever find their bodies.

                 Finally, the children represent hope and a future; they are young and happy and bring joy to everyone in the household.  At one point, one child asks to go get water from the Flume, a brook in the mountain.  The adults laugh off the request to leave the warmth of the cabin, but when a wagon stops in front of the house for a moment before continuing on, the boy insists that they could have gotten the drivers to take them to the Flume.  Once again, the adults laugh.  Could the characters have escaped their death if they had taken up the ride?  The fate of the wagon drivers is not disclosed.  Perhaps, Hawthorne is saying that without taking chances, a person cannot leave a monument in this world.  The family took chances every time they allowed a stranger into their home.  The stranger may have been on his way to take a chance and build his monument, but his opening up to the family was him taking a chance as well, which allowed him to be known to the family, if not the world.  Should they have gone with the wagon drivers?  They probably should not have since them leaving the house at the end is what ensures their death.  Besides, they had already taken their chances in life and established their monument.- Hannah Aycock