The Hidden Hand

I felt this story incorporated ideas of murder, mystery, comedy and scandal all in one story. I'll focus in this entry on the different settings that we encountered in the story because I feel like they played just as much of a role as many of the secondary characters. The weather, setting (city or country), time of day, even temperature, can all be interpreted to have larger meanings that connect with the story and might help us better understand the characters.

Starting at the beginning of the story with Hurricane Hall and it's surroundings, namely the Devils Hoof, and the Devil's Punch Bowl, two geological phenomenon. We are told that the Devils Hoof is an almost horseshoe like rocky structure, and the name of the Devils Punch Bowl suggests that it is most fit for the devil himself, a scary thought but not outrageos for a land as scary as this one is described. It is all hollows eve, it is a bitterly cold night, and we have an old racist who's tough as nails in his wonderful, cozy room, drinking. Suddenly, we hear a knock on the door! The author, Southworth, draws us in deeper and deeper until we are fully enveloped in the plot. "On his right stood a little table with a lighted candle, a stack of clay pipes, a jug of punch, lemons, sugar, Holland gin, etc. ,while on the hearth sat a kettle full of boiling water to help replenish the jug if needful." Major Warfield, (who's name may indicate a constant struggle within himself), is all set to have a good time for the night. Connected to the MacLeod reading we can see that the idea of children being better off in the country is played out here when Major Warfield rescues Capitola she is in the city, a dirty place where she had to do outrageous things to survive but, such is life in the city. As scary as the opening scene may be, when Capitola retells her story, it is scary trying to imagine being forced, like she was, into a position where the only home you have is destroyed and where you must start from scratch and have all your wits about you to survive. Both places are cold but Capitola is able to find real warmth within Hurricane Hall in the country. I really would like to know how the story ends.