The Hidden Hand

I would like to start out by saying that Major Warfield, in my opinion has so far been the best character we’ve talked about. There have been very few characters in any book that have kept me as entertained as has; primarily before he found Capitola. His general demeanor and the names he would call people gave me a good laugh. That being said….


The “Hidden Hand” by Soutworth was both very similar and very different from other writings we have read to this point in the aspect of how descriptive it is. Southworth from the get go on page 1 gives the readers a lengthy description of the setting in which Hurricane Hall sits. The names of landmarks around Hurricane Hall such as the “Devil’s Hoof” which was dark formation of evergreens, and the stream “Devil’s Run” automatically gave an ominous feeling to the setting. In addition to the names of these landmarks being gloomy already, the majority of these terrain features were also given descriptions like the soil being “barren” and the general area being a “savage locality.” This story doesn’t match with methods of writing children’s literature by Macleod in the way that the setting is far too specific. Some of the descriptive similarities and trends in these reading assignments we have covered are of the characters mood and emotions. I think it’s the author’s way of saying that if in a particular situation, this is an idea of how you should feel, act, or react (which goes back to the idea that children’s literature can be a guidebook.)