umankind. But during the odyssey, though his intellect grew, his heart withered. Hawthorne makes passing reference to a girl Brand "made the subject of a psychological experiment, and wasted, absorbed, and perhaps annihilated her soul, in the process." (Hawthorne, p 431) The character suffers from alienation from his fellow man in his travels. This is most obvious in the perception that the other characters have of him as a crazed crank. This idea of alienation as a condition that all seekers of knowledge must deal with is, again, a common motif in Hawthorne's work. He never explains what the Unpardonable Sin is, only writing that Brand has found it, and no one else is worthy of knowing it.
             Hawthorne doesn't make clear but certainly hints at the possibility that awareness or the desire for awareness is the unpardonable sin. What Hawthorne never suggests is the possibility of change: that Brand could be anything other than a crazed seeker. Brand, after realizing his want o
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