- description
- # By-and-by, the house seemed to change again
## Overview
This section, titled "By-and-by, the house seemed to change again," is an extracted text segment from the larger work contained within the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It spans lines 5378 to 5430 of its source file.
## Context
This section is part of a larger textual unit, [IV.](arke:01KG8AKSYXM1BVG8S0ESCFKM6F), and was extracted from the digital text file [pierre.txt](arke:01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A). It follows the section titled [I have spoken of the second or rather the third spot in my memory of the past, as it first appeared to me; I mean, I have spoken of the people in the house, according to my very earliest recallable impression of them.](arke:01KG8AMR90EA1Z18WSCR40KHF2) and precedes the section [It came to pass, at last, that there was a contention about me in the house](arke:01KG8AMR90ETF797NH56MEWZEV). The text describes a shift in the narrator's perception of a particular "house" and its inhabitants.
## Contents
The section details the narrator's observations of the "house" and its occupants, who are described as pale, some with white hair despite being young. They exhibit various behaviors, including vacant roaming, silent gazing, crouching, moaning, and repetitive speech. Some discuss theological concepts like "Hell, Eternity, and God," while others argue without conviction. The narrator recounts a rare instance of collective laughter among the inhabitants. The text concludes with the narrator's refusal to name the "house," emphasizing its "unendurable" nature and the "dreaminess" and "bewilderingness" that persist from their time there.
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:50:13.393Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- By-and-by, the house seemed to change again
- end_line
- 5430
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:47.195Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 5378
- text
- "By-and-by, the house seemed to change again, or else my mind took in
more, and modified its first impressions. I was lodged up-stairs in a
little room; there was hardly any furniture in the room; sometimes I
wished to go out of it; but the door was locked. Sometimes the people
came and took me out of the room, into a much larger and very long room,
and here I would collectively see many of the other people of the house,
who seemed likewise brought from distant and separate chambers. In this
long room they would vacantly roam about, and talk vacant talk to each
other. Some would stand in the middle of the room gazing steadily on the
floor for hours together, and never stirred, but only breathed and gazed
upon the floor. Some would sit crouching in the corner, and sit
crouching there, and only breathe and crouch in the corners. Some kept
their hands tight on their hearts, and went slowly promenading up and
down, moaning and moaning to themselves. One would say to another--"Feel
of it--here, put thy hand in the break." Another would mutter--"Broken,
broken, broken"--and would mutter nothing but that one word broken. But
most of them were dumb, and could not, or would not speak, or had
forgotten how to speak. They were nearly all pale people. Some had hair
white as snow, and yet were quite young people. Some were always talking
about Hell, Eternity, and God; and some of all things as fixedly
decreed; others would say nay to this, and then they would argue, but
without much conviction either way. But once nearly all the people
present--even the dumb moping people, and the sluggish persons crouching
in the corners--nearly all of them laughed once, when after a whole
day's loud babbling, two of these predestinarian opponents, said each to
the other--'Thou hast convinced me, friend; but we are quits; for so
also, have I convinced thee, the other way; now then, let's argue it all
over again; for still, though mutually converted, we are still at odds.'
Some harangued the wall; some apostrophized the air; some hissed at the
air; some lolled their tongues out at the air; some struck the air; some
made motions, as if wrestling with the air, and fell out of the arms of
the air, panting from the invisible hug.
"Now, as in the former thing, thou must, ere this, have suspected what
manner of place this second or third house was, that I then lived in.
But do not speak the word to me. That word has never passed my lips;
even now, when I hear the word, I run from it; when I see it printed in
a book, I run from the book. The word is wholly unendurable to me. Who
brought me to the house; how I came there, I do not know. I lived a long
time in the house; that alone I know; I say I know, but still I am
uncertain; still Pierre, still the--oh the dreaminess, the
bewilderingness--it never entirely leaves me. Let me be still again."
She leaned away from him; she put her small hard hand to her forehead;
then moved it down, very slowly, but still hardly over her eyes, and
kept it there, making no other sign, and still as death. Then she moved
and continued her vague tale of terribleness.
"I must be shorter; I did not mean to turn off into the mere
offshootings of my story, here and there; but the dreaminess I speak of
leads me sometimes; and I, as impotent then, obey the dreamy prompting.
Bear with me; now I will be briefer."
- title
- By-and-by, the house seemed to change again