House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne

House of the Seven Gables that tells the story of the Pyncheon family. In order to explain some of the misfortunes the family undergoes as the present unfolds, the narrator takes us back to late 1600's, where a mysterious curse is conjured on the Pyncheons. The main reason for it was directly begotten by the building of the house of the seven gables, where generations of Pyncheons would perish. Matthew Maule, the original owner of the lot where the house was built, was stripped of his property by Colonel Pyncheon, a strict and greedy character, who was obsessed with building a house at the up-and-coming area. When Maule was hanged, he allegedly cursed the Pyncheons from the scaffold for having disgraced him and his family. At the house inauguration party, Colonel Pyncheon was found dead in his study, with his beard covered in blood. Although this was the first Pyncheon to die within the house of the seven gables, he would not be the last
Hepzibah is the surviving member of the Pyncheon family as the narrator closes in on the present. By this time, the Pyncheons are not the affluent household name they once were, in fact, Hepzibah is forced to open a store in the lowelevel of the house in order to keep from starvation. She is often visited by her young cousin, Phoebe, who eventually begins living at the house. Other Pyncheons begin to show up at the house as well, Clifford Pyncheon, Hepzibah's brother, who had been in prison, and Judge Pyncheon, who offers Hepzibah financial support. The funniest thing is that Holgrave, the house's only lodger, seems to know more about the Pyncheons than themselves. He tells Phoebe about how 100 years earlier, Alice Pyncheon was hypnotized by Matthew Maule, a carpenter and descendant of the original Matthew Maule, as part of a deal between her father and the carpenter. The purpose of this was to find Colonel's Pyncheon missing deed in exchange for the house and land. The awakened spirit of Maule prevent Colonel Pyncheon from revealing the secret, leaving Alice in a mortal trance.
The House of the Seven Gables not only gathers but keeps the Pyncheon family history alive. Through time, we see the family prosper and fall on its luck, but ultimately the house, as a symbol of unbreakable family ties, lives on.
Diana Sanchez