The decay of the nce florious mansion is brought about by a dying man's curse on the deceitful Pyncheon family which had swindled him out of his property. The realization of the curse over succeeding generations acts as a metaphor fro the inescapability from tainted origins: for an individual, for a a society, for a nation. Hawthorne reaches back to the dubious practices of our own country in its nascent period to provide the dark and fascinating force behind this compelling story.
