Short Fiction · Chapter
The Piazza explained
The narrator describes his desire to build a piazza onto his old farmhouse to better enjoy the surrounding landscape, particularly the view of Mount Greylock.
What happens
The narrator describes his desire to build a piazza onto his old farmhouse to better enjoy the surrounding landscape, particularly the view of Mount Greylock. After constructing it, he becomes fixated on a distant, shimmering house on a mountain and sets out to visit it. There he meets Marianna, a lonely woman who lives in poverty with her brother. Through their conversation, Marianna reveals her isolation, her weariness, and her mistaken belief that the narrator's own home is a place of happiness. The narrator returns to his piazza, haunted by Marianna's story and the contrast between illusion and reality.
Themes in this chapter
Appearance vs. Reality
The narrator's piazza offers a beautiful view that masks the harsh realities of Marianna's life; the distant house appears as a happy palace but is actually a decaying farmhouse.
Isolation and Alienation
Marianna's profound loneliness is central to the chapter; she lives in near-total seclusion, with only her brother and her thoughts for company.
Innocence vs. Evil
Marianna's innocent longing for happiness contrasts with the wearying reality of her existence, and the narrator's initial romantic view of the mountain house is dispelled by the truth of her suffering.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator (The Piazza)
The narrator who builds a piazza and journeys to the mountain house, seeking the source of a distant gleam.
- Hunilla
Marianna, the lonely woman living in the mountain house, who speaks of her isolation and weariness.
Key passages
“With fairest flowers, Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele—”
The narrator opens with a poetic line about enjoying the beauty of summer in his new home.
Sets the idyllic tone before the narrator's quest.
“I, too, know nothing; and, therefore, cannot answer; but, for your sake, Marianna, well could wish that I were that happy one of the happy house you dream you see; for then you would behold him now, and, as you say, this weariness might leave you.”
The narrator tells Marianna he wishes he were the happy person she imagines lives in the distant house, so that seeing him might ease her weariness.
Reveals the narrator's empathy and the ironic misunderstanding between them.
“But, every night, when the curtain falls, truth comes in with darkness. No light shows from the mountain. To and fro I walk the piazza deck, haunted by Marianna’s face, and many as real a story.”
At night, the illusion of the piazza's beautiful view fades, and the narrator is troubled by the reality of Marianna's suffering.
Highlights the theme of appearance versus reality and the narrator's lingering guilt.