What was he thinking? What would you think of a man who left his family, moved down the next street to watch their lives unfold, and then returned twenty years later as if nothing had happened? What could drive a man to such bizarre behavior? These are the themes Nathaniel Hawthorne addresses in the story of Mr. Wakefield. The very idea that a man could do such a thing makes the audience want to understand his intentions. It's difficult for a modern audience to make sense of such a story because television shows and movies have caused today's society to focus so much on easily obvious themes or morals. Hawthorne used this story to examine society's motivations. In his short story "Wakefield", it is necessary for Hawthorne to use the narrator as a tool to shed light on Mr. Wakefield's motivations and to emphasize the theme of the story, which is that an individual can appreciate and understand their life only by carefully observing from the outside. In Hawthorne's “Wakefield,” the narrator's thoughts and comments provide insight into the motivations of the character in the story. The story includes a long introduction in which the narrator, Hawthorne, describes how he heard Mr. Wakefield's curious story. Hawthorne provides his audience with a condensed version of the entire plot of the story. With this introduction, Hawthorne has already informed the audience of the intriguing plot of the story and this intensifies the audience's desire to find out Mr. Wakefield's motives because they cannot understand why he would do such a thing. The audience will try to make sense of Mr. Wakefield's actions, but will find no logical explanation. The story may seem unreal, but the reader must take it as it is and focus on the character… in the center of the paper…, would argue that Hawthorne was showing his modernism by writing about the strange habits of human nature. Others, such as Morsberger, argue that Wakefield's story simply mirrors many of Hawthorne's other works. I don't disagree with either point of view, but I feel that Hawthorne simply wanted to create an intriguing story that addressed people's motivations. I would argue that he wrote this story to examine a side of human nature that is often forgotten or intentionally left out of much literature. Hawthorne is able to place the reader in Mr. Wakefield's mind through his unique approach to storytelling. The result is a fascinating look into the mind of a very interesting character. Hawthorne did such a wonderful job of drawing the reader in that it only takes a few minutes to read "Wakefield," but you'll never forget it..