"My Kinsman, Major Molineux"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Nathaniel Hawthorne's "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" opens with Robin trying to find his kinsman, Major Molineux, but finding that his kinsman has been tarred and feathered. The author points out that this story is about change, coping with change in order to grow, and finding true identity. The paper relates that, throughout Robin's night of adventure, he gained much needed experience, which showed him that he is naive and not as smart as he thought.

From the Paper:

"The story starts off with Robin taking a ferry into town. He is described as "a youth of barely eighteen years, evidently country-bred, and now, as it should seem, upon his first visit to town". He is coming into town at a very abnormal hour and has to promise to pay the ferryman an extra fare in order there. Once he got to the town, "Robin, finally drew from his pocket the half of a little province bill of five shillings, which, in the depreciation in that sort of currency, did but satisfy the ferryman's demand, with the surplus of a sexangular piece of parchment, valued at three pence" . The ferryman is not happy because Robin could not give what he had promised to pay. Here he is going into a new town and his inexperience is already showing."

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