This passage is preceded by the narrator’s establishment of the rights of the reader and rights of the author kept in mind throughout “The Custom House.” Therefore, the passage presents the first glimpse into the author’s “native town of Salem,” which is a point of focus throughout “The Custom House.” In the first sentence, Hawthorne emphasizes the transition of his town from what used to be a “bustling wharf” to a now “dilapidated wharf,” signifying the connection of past and present which is highlighted throughout the introduction in order to convey that Hawthorne’s message is universal. The opening sentence describes new Salem in unflattering terms, such as “unthrifty,” “melancholy” “dilapidated,” and “not very enlivening,” creating a…show more content… Further, describing the eagle as a “federal eagle” that hints at the symbolic significance of the eagle, introducing the idea that the eagle symbolizes America as a whole. Now that it is clear that the eagle represents America, Hawthorne refers to the citizens as the eagle’s, or America’s, “nestlings,” stating that the eagle, or America, can fling them off with “a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.” He concludes the passage by referring back to the juxtaposition of the eagle as introduced in the initial description, describing her as both an “eiderdown pillow” and later, “apt to fling off her