An Analysis of Hawthorne’s My Kinsman, Major Molineux Essay

The period between Reconstruction and World War I was a time of tremendous social, economic, and cultural change in the United States. The end of the Civil War, the shrinking of the frontier, the rise of immigration, and the rapid growth of industry that characterized this time period brought many issues of race, class, and status to the forefront of politics. Many different opinions came to light about what it means to be an American and the dynamic between the American individual and American society. The differing answers to these questions created both divisions and unifications between different races, classes, and political parties. Through careful analysis of historical documents from the period, it is evident that society owes all individuals basic civil rights and the ability to make a living through harnessing their skills in the workplace. Conversely, the individual owes society work that benefits society as a whole and participation in government through suffrage.

     Although the gap between rich and poor during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was unquestionably large, the nation was also prospering through large economic gains. Although it may have seemed like a nation in which the rich were detached from the poor, the US was actually harvesting a new breed of self-accomplishing individuals. With the end of free labor, the US had sought a new ideology, and found it in Adam

In William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic, Alan Taylor portrays the life of William Cooper to show the social implications, competitive social order, revolutionary legacy, contentious struggle, and conflicting interpretations occurring in America in the 1780s through the early 1800s. Alan Taylor effectively displays William Cooper’s life to show the social, economic, and political changes occurring throughout the country after the Revolution. Taylor proves this by showing Cooper’s determination to become an Elite by self-educating himself to attain the education similar to the prestigious members of the library as an effect on society from the Revolution. The competitive social order at the

During the 19th century, America was going through an important transition. The nation was dealing with the aftermath of the civil war and the following reconstruction of the South. The Reconstruction period was the precursor to the period deemed the “Gilded Age”. The nation saw economic growth and the creation of the mass market. The rise of industrialization and transition to urban living were some of the defining moments of this period. However, the most defining idea of the Gilded Age is Reform: Social, Political, and economic. The Gilded Age was plagued with the problems that, the reconstruction period failed to solve. During the Gilded Age, social, political, and economic reform movements were gaining ground. Blacks and other

Wendell Phillips, a man believed to be completely overlooked and underappreciated in his influence during this period of American history. Phillips played an immense role in the abolition movement before and even after the Civil War; Hofstadter goes on to state that Phillips is seen by many historians as only a dull-witted extremist. Titled “Wendell Phillips: The Patrician as Agitator,” chapter 6 of The American Political Tradition, Hofstadter encompasses brilliantly Phillips’s influence and importance that was portrayed by his radicalism and his views of the democratic system. Phillips was indeed a “patrician,” which is someone who is classified as an elitist part of society. Born into a wealthy family, Phillips was in no circumstance unprivileged; however, he greatly valued the constitution and its basic principles for all. Furthermore Phillips was an agitator. Hofstadter didn’t give chapter 6 this title just because it sounded nice, but to examine both adjectives and to convey how he believes they coincide. Thusly he wants to show how revolutionary the idea of a patrician being an agitator was in Phillips’s time.

As the 19th century came to a close a new epoch, known as the Progressive Era emerged in response to industrialization. This early 20th century reform movement pursued control of the government to the people. In order to reinstate economic opportunities and to correct inequity in American life. Progressives believed that government could be used as a powerful tool for social improvement (Gillon, Matson 2009). Although the Progressive ideal was presented by numerous Progressive authors of different genre, together they all presented the impact of the economic, political, social, and moral reforms of the American Society.

In the Article “The American Narrative: Is There One & What is it?” Finsterbusch (2016, p. 5) looks at the two value systems of serving the public good and that of individual freedom in American history competing to define who we are. The serving the public good imagines America as a community that places the good of the whole first. Next, the individual freedom in American history envisions the country as a gathering of individuals who prize individual freedom and value more than anything else each person’s ability to determine his own fate.

Women in today’s world use many scientific measures to look young, beautiful, and perfect. Some women even undergo surgeries to perfect their bodies. True natural beauty comes from within one’s self and not what is on the outside. While critics argue that Hawthorne’s “The Birth Mark,” “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” and “Rappaccinni’s Daughter” stand as an overt commentary on nature vs. science, Hawthorne actually uses these works to explore personal familial connections.

The motion picture Patch Adams revolves around the troubles a young man named Patch faces in his lifetime. Patch voluntarily admits himself to a mental institution and his experiences there convince Adams to become a doctor. When Patch enrolls at the medical college of Virginia, he is shocked at the cold, clinical professionalism that alienates patients from their caregivers. Determined to provide emotional and spiritual relief as well as medicine, Adams clowns around for his patients, getting to know them personally. His unorthodox approach to treatment and learning led to a continuous conflict between the Dean’s way of learning and Patch’s new unique and spontaneous way. Raising the question of, “How would John Stuart Mill judge the actions of Patch Adams and Dean Walcott in the society in which they live? Drawing on the book On Liberty, I will argue Patch’s actions of nonconformity were legitimate as he possesses self-regarding action and I will conclude that Patch’s individuality is needed in the cultivations of social progress. In addition, I will claim

The author, Nathan Hawthorne, of "The Scarlet Letter" uses two of his characters in particular to display the idea of rugged individualism. The referenced individuals are named Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth and are both key players in Hawthorne's work. According to Marxist literary critics, the rugged individual exhibits traits of a person for their own gain or towards their own goals as opposed to the goals of the group as a whole and has no concern for anything besides said goals and their own appearance. This pursuit leads the characters to "often take risks" (Tyson p.57) that other individuals would not which can lead to the person being expelled from society. This is seen in both characters through the story from the 'fall from grace' that Hester goes through that leaves her as a literal outcast or the townspeople viewing Chillingworth as a miracle worker at first before their opinions flip to see him as "like the black

2) Choose one of the social judgements that Hawthorne is exploring in the novel either through narrative or through characterization. What statements about human nature does Hawthorne explore? What is his message?

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “My Kinsman, Major Molineux”, Hawthorne tells the coming-of-age story about a boy, Robin, and his journey through a unfamiliar city in hopes of finding his kinsman, Major Molineux. Determination and persistence follow Robin throughout the story, never giving up on his search. He comes across a gentleman who guides him to a mob and through the crowd his eyes meets with Major Molineux’s as he is tarred and feathered. Rather than helping his kinsman who he specifically went to go find, he joins in with the laughter of the mob. Hawthorne argues that the desire to be accepted by society is driven by selfishness, which ultimately leads to a shift in personality.

Gradually, the nation began to develop characteristics unique to America, such as a middle class dominated by business men and women, a sense of individualism and the idea of Manifest Destiny. The merchants and business people of the mid-19th century freed themselves from the cuffs of petty European values through the development and success of the middle class. This middle class began to influence the rest of the nation's ideals. According to Scott Finkelman on American charater and identity, "self made men and women ventured creativly into the [unkown], inventing themselves as they made social space for their unprecedented enterprises" (64). Social conformity was quickly falling out of fashion and the need to be one's own person, a rugged individual, searching for his own destiny wherever he may find it, was becoming more popular. Because of the mixed assortment that is America's heritage, citizens were not encouraged to be any specific way, thus the individual was born. This "unrooted individualism and unabashed enterprise"

The United States of America, throughout the early and mid 1800s, was going through a rapid transition of social and economical changes. Immediate changes to its democracy continued to be a constant work in progress as well. The early and mid 1800s was also around the same time when the Market Revolution and the idea of westward expansion -- also known as the Manifest Destiny -- sparked an interest to many working Americans. After a few decades of winning independence from British sovereignty, America had already had its fair share of progress and of great leaders. But to be a leader who ideally understood the voices and needs of the so-called “common man”, a term that was coined during this era to describe the average American citizen, was a part of an ideology that was new movement of its own.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s TheScarletLetter, and Suzan Lori-Parks In The Blood demonstrate how in society, woman are seen as sex objects, and are oppressed by gender inequality. In addition, Hawthorne and Parks’ illustrate the stereotype that women aren’t as powerful as men and are instead just objects rather than human beings to show that views men and woman hold in society. The Scarlet Letter introduces Hester as a woman who is a societal outcast that becomes accepted by the society . In The Blood uses Hester as a woman who doesn 't receive the same level of societal acceptance for being a woman, and doesn’t survive. In both novels The Scarlet Letter and In The Blood the authors display the role of women as powerless and inferior in order to demonstrate the society has not change.