The Ambitious Guest

The “sharp” and “pitilessly cold” wind represents danger and connects to the setting of the White Mountains (299). The wind acts as a constant reminder that the characters live at the mountains’ mercy. The wind repeatedly tries to invade the space of the family’s home and disrupts their peace of mind with its wailing. The wind also serves as a means of foreshadowing in the story, warning the family members that something terrible will happen to them. The funereal sounds created by the wind foreshadow how the night will end. However, the family is accustomed to the wind and largely ignore its warnings.

The pass at the Notch, which is described as “the great artery, through which the life-blood internal commerce is continually throbbing” (299), is a symbol of life and the passing of human life. The mountains are seemingly eternal in comparison to the people who pass through them, which connects to the theme of Human Beings Versus Nature. The symbolism between the pass and human life is further solidified in the text when the narrator explains that the guest’s whole life was a “solitary path” (301), implying that roads and passes are a symbol of human life.