Mr. Eberdeen's House by Blanche Colton Williams
Blanche Colton Williams studies the construction of “Mr. Eberdeen’s House,” explaining how Mr. Johnson’s original idea—the oppressive effect of an old New England house on a returning man—developed into a story of ancestry, ghostly vision, and divided identity. She separates the narrative’s outer courtship plot from its inseparable inner action, tracing preparation, dramatic climax, awakening, and dénouement. Williams interprets Jack Hastings’s vision as a confrontation with his great-grandfather’s past and discusses the ambiguous evidence that follows it. Her commentary weighs supernatural and psychological readings, identifies setting-driven atmosphere as the story’s governing effect, and considers the limited but purposeful roles of plot, love interest, and characterization.
By Blanche Colton Williams · First published 1919 · Genre: Literary Analysis, Literary Criticism, Non-Fiction · 1,115 words
First lines
STARTING POINT AND FIRST PROCESSES. "Mr. Eberdeen's House" was to have been originally only the effect of an old New England House upon a New Englander who had become rather enfranchised from his austere beginnings, and returned to find them only more crabbed, more grim, than ever, and himself strangely, inexplicably connected with them. The explanation of how he was connected with this distasteful setting, and of why it was distasteful to him evolved the author's theme. The hero's great-grandmother had fled from the same grimness and straight-lacedness and puritanism by running away with a Frenchman, just before the birth of her child, of whom Mr. Eberdeen was, contrary to his bleak, orthodox suspicions, the father. The author's plan was to have Mr. Eberdeen, representing all that was distasteful to the hero (Hastings) in the New England character, the hero's ancestor without his knowing it -- the great-grandmother after she had fled, having presumably taken the name, for herself and child, of Tremaine.
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Genres
- Literary Analysis — Breaks the studied story into preparation, climax, action, and dénouement while interpreting its narrative devices.
- Literary Criticism — Evaluates atmosphere, setting, characterization, and competing supernatural or psychological explanations.
- Non-Fiction — A prose section from a study volume that explains and assesses another work.
Tags
Blanche Colton Williams · Mr. Eberdeen’s House · Mr. Johnson · short-story construction · inner and outer story · dramatic climax · dénouement · ghostly vision · dual personality · supernatural ambiguity · New England setting · atmosphere story
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Mr. Eberdeen's House is listed on Textopian as an essay by Blanche Colton Williams, dated 1919 CE.
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- Work type: Essay
- Author: Blanche Colton Williams
- Date: 1919 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Literary Analysis, Literary Criticism, Non-Fiction
- Length: 1,115 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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