Underlying Messges in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s My Kinsman, Major Molineux

Nathaniel Hawthorne used the characteristics of his uncle William towards some of the prominent men in The Scarlet Letter.

Hawthorne is known for being a Romantic writer with a Romantic subject: a rebel who refuses to conform to society's code. Most

Writing an excellent book, short story,or poem is an ability very few people posses : Nathaniel Hawthorne is someone who had this talent. Hawthorne's writing is mostly centered around romantic fiction, he has written a plethora of things but he is mostly remembered for his short stories and novels. Before divulging into his work, a reader should know where his writing comes from, his inspirations, originality and what some would call pure genius. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an individual whose work has been and should continue to be analyzed for years to come due to his unique twist on romantic fiction. Many of his works have casted a silhouette over America through his intricate stories and writing style that revealed the themes of psychology and human nature during the 19th century. Hawthorne’s ominous style makes his works into oddities compared to the other romantic fiction novels in his time. Many of his works, such as The Scarlet Letter, exemplifies the epitome of Hawthorne’s distinct outlook on the moralistic attitudes of

Nathaniel Hawthorne never really presented a solution to any of his protagonist’s problems, all we were left with questions of what is to become of them next? How did their actions help bring their problems to an end? These problems that aren’t solved are deep internal problems that can be solved by simply researching Hawthorne 's life and all the things going on in his life around the time he wrote the story. Most of these problems are given to the protagonist because of problems Hawthorne face in his own life, problems that he faced while he was a child. These were problems that shaped him into the person he was when he was writing these fascinating stories.

Romanticism is categorized as “a preference for simplicity and naturalness, a love of plain feelings and truth to common place reality, especially as found in natural scenes”. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an anti-transcendentalist and believed in the dark side of man, hence his dark romantic novel The Scarlet Letter. This allegorical novel depends heavily on symbol and character. The novel is chock full of symbolic dimension of images, characters, and descriptions. The Scarlet Letter defines the American Romanticist movement while using symbolic characters and places that give the book seemingly two different stories. The first story denotes the story going on in the book, including the characters. The other story has symbols that speak on

     In Hawthorne's revered novel The Scarlet Letter, the use of Romanticism plays an important role in the development of his characters. He effectively demonstrates individualism in Hester to further our understanding of the difficulties of living in the stern, joyless world of Puritan New England.  It is all gloom and doom.  If the sun ever shines, one could hardly notice.  The entire place seems to be shrouded in black.  The people of this society were stern, and repressed natural human impulses and emotions than any society before or since.  But for this reason specifically, emotions began bubbling and eventually boiled over, passions a novelist

Throughout his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals character through the use of imagery and metaphor.

Throughout all the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, one thing always reoccurs. What is this one thing? Well, it is secret sin. This Great American Writer of the Romantic era in literature had a firm grasp and understanding of human nature and what it means to be human. The darkness of Hawthorne’s writings come from his own observations of human nature and the treachery that we can commit either in front of others or in secret. A secret sin is nothing more than some sin you committed; but, you are the only one who knows. So it is something that isn’t known by the population. To understand Hawthorns obsession with secret sin we must look

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.

The Scarlet Letter involves multiple themes throughout the story: the role of god, guiltiness, and sin. Society made these themes so apparent in Boston at the time, and if the same sin was committed today, the consequences would be much, much different. The Scarlet Letter has such a great amount of themes, and the themes themselves come in the perfect order, making the book so well written. In The Scarlet Letter multiple characters tried (some failed, some succeeded) to act as god, somewhat in a symbolic form.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed.

Curbet, Joan. "Incarnational Poetics: Embodiment and Literary Influence in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Stories from the Old Manse Period." Nathaniel Hawthorne Review, vol. 42, no. 1, Spring2016, pp. 37-55. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.mga.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=115321515&site=eds-live&scope=site.

In the story “My Kinsman, Major Molineux”, Nathaniel Hawthorne criticizes the faults of human nature and shows the trials and tribulations of discovering one’s identity. The story shows people should find their own path to success in life rather than feeding off the success of others. This story illustrates how a person’s quest for their identity is multi-faceted and usually calls for the person to change many times as they discover who they are through the use of symbols and patterns.

In the early nineteenth century, America was undergoing profound changes in the political, economic, and social realms. The rise of international commerce and the development of industrialization displaced previous Republican ideologies that valued the community (Matthews 5). Instead, the market became the principal societal system. Significantly, the major agent driving this system was the individual. Thus, a new philosophy of liberal individualism was born that honored the rights and independence of the individual man. It maintained that the individual’s “drive for success” would naturally contribute to the overall good of the community (5). Indeed, “setting free the

Nathaniel Hawthorne was able to elaborate on his Salem roots in his work, embedding a dark journey within them. In the short story, “My Kinsman, Major Molineux,” Robin, an eighteen-year-old-boy reaches maturity while trying to find his kinsman, in a rude and unusual town of people (Hawthorne, “My”). This series of events represents Nathaniel Hawthorne’s independant journey to adulthood. Without having a father, Hawthorne had build a name for himself and help support his family at a young age (Means). In the story, Robin also had to find alternative ways of earning money, since he was unable to inherit his father’s farm (Hawthorne, “My”). Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work background includes performance in several political jobs, as well as weighing coal or salt to stay economically afloat (Means). Working at an