The Intelligence Office (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")

"The Intelligence Office (From 'Mosses from an Old Manse')" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a fictional story set in the 1800s that examines what it means to be human. At the Intelligence Office, people from everywhere come looking for help with their problems, from missing belongings to bigger questions about life; the Intelligencer is the main figure. The people share their desires and sad moments with an office worker, who listens but can't actually fix their problems. The story shows people long for things, struggle to find where they belong, and the many-sided ways humans experience life. Hawthorne very well shows how people want something bigger, but that it might not be where they think it is. The story wraps up with the Intelligencer uncovering his true job as merely the Recording Spirit, which suggests that people can't find happiness outside of themself because their struggles are internal.