The Problem of Knowing in My Kinsman, Major Molineux
Consider the meaning of ambiguousness: for something to have two contradictory meanings, with emphasis on the unknown. In, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses ambiguity, as well as other writing tools, to tell a pre-Revolutionary war story about a young man's journey from childhood innocence into the adult world of evils and reality. Hawthorne utilizes the power of setting, symbolism, and conflict, to name a few, to help portray the problem of knowing that is ever present through out the stories' entirety.
Foremost it is important to know the main character of the story: young Robin is on a journey from the country into town to find his kinsman, the Major Molineux. Robin's character is round in that it is complex and dynamic. He changes from the innocent youth he is in the beginning to an adult educated in the ways of evil and harshness. On the other hand, Major Molineux's character, which you never meet until the end of the story is flat: static and yet vital to the story: helping the reader see Robin's character more clearly. The other characters in the story are significant, but also flat; you never see too much about any of them, further enhancing the ambiguousness of the work. It is the mystery of these flat characters, such as the waiter at the tavern or the woman with the red skirt, which keeps you questioning what exactly is going on.
Robin's character is discovered in many ways through the conflicts with each situation he finds himself in through out his journey. Each conflict is carried through a sequence of events that leads to the climax and creates the characters. Robin's conflict starts with the elder authority figure that h...
... middle of paper ...
... will find his kinsman eventually and all will be well, but even the unsophisticated reader sees that something, if not everything, is not right. The ironic tone of the work aids in the problem of knowing not only for Robin's character, but also for the reader. This in itself may seem ironic, but Hawthorne utilized the power of irony to create question after question in both the character and the reader's mind.
In conclusion, it is attainable for you as the reader to understand the problem of knowing that Robin faces once you realize the many ingredients used to emphasize this problem. Hawthorne's deliberate use of symbolism, ambiguity, tone, setting and so on attribute to the effectiveness of his story. With these tools, the author was able to clearly represent the age-old story of man's journey from innocent naivety to adulthood in a unique and original way.
In The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne efficiently conveys his purpose to the audience through the use of numerous rhetorical devices in his novel. Two such rhetorical strategies Hawthorne establishes to convey his purpose of informing the audience of valuable life lessons in The Scarlet Letter are characterization and the theme of duality.
he used real life situations to relate what was happening to the reader. “It gave him,to the very depth of his kind heart ,to observe how the children fled from his approach.”(Hawthorne,Pg,109) To this day people still have to deal with situations similar to this, therefore he could relate to some of the readers. “Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape” He used an outdated style so some of the readers might not of been able to get the full picture if was trying to present.
...the dichotomy between the said and the implied. On the surface, it may seem to be a story that ends inconclusively about a boy who is never found, but the use of multifarious symbols each bringing with them a string of other meanings contributes to the symbolic richness of his prose.
...his antagonist proves to be their own inner character which determines the trajectory of their decisions. As they all become aware, the consequences of their decisions prove to have an extensive impact on themselves and those around them.
Both of these stories revolve around a lot of symbolism. These stories, since they really don't make a lot of sense on their own, force the reader to look deeper in an attempt to understand the ideas that Hawthorne tries to get across.
Lang, H.J. “How Ambiguous is Hawthorne?” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
...g and appreciation of qualities of characters, and hence, a deeper understanding of underlying motives and psyche. Intricate and methodical characterization is crucial to grasp the full meaning of a narrative.
After Georgina eventually passed, Aylmer was left to deal with what his obsession for perfection had brought upon his wife, who was thought to be the closest thing to perfection. Hawthorne uses many different literary devices throughout this story, with the most prevalent being his use of symbolism. of the book. Ed. Michael Meyer.
III. Comparable aspects of Hawthorne's characterization in The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables
In Hawthorne's use of symbols in The Scarlet Letter, we observe the author making one of his most distinctive and significant contributions to the growth of American fiction. Indeed this novel is usually regarded as the first symbolic novel to be published in the United States ( Dibble, p. 77 ) . Hawthorne attempts to spread a revelation into imagined characters and scenes, to transfer the realization of the symbols into a warmth that will animate the entire...
A western bishop appraised: “Yet we honestly believe that "the Scarlet Letter" has already done not a little to degrade our literature, and to encourage social licentiousness: it has started other pens on like enterprises, and has loosed the restraint of many tongues, that have made it an apology for "the evil communications which corrupt good manners.” (Coxe.) Hawthorne’s sagacious perception revealed the dark and ugly side of the Puritan society and remonstrated the unfairness under the laws. He established his story not only based on the actual events but also leaned on his lavish imaginative conception and his personal experience. Hawthorne is a good ironic writer and most of his eyes focus on the unfairness and repulsive about human life and he’s novel concentrated revealing the evils and ugly side about humanity. One of the best writers during 1900s, Henry James wrote: “He is to a considerable degree ironical—this is part of his charm—part even, one may say, of his brightness; but he is neither bitter nor cynical—he is rarely even what I should call tragical.” (James.) His achievements inspired future writer such as Henry James, Faulkner, and Melville, thereby forming an important American literary historical writing tradition. He cleverly makes symbolism and romanticism bond together and makes his work interesting and enjoyable
Context of Hawthorne's Art.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 24.2 (Sept. 1969): 182-192. JASTOR. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
In Hawthorne’s “Wakefield” the narrator’s thoughts and comments bring insight into the motivations of the character of the story. The story includes a long introduction in which the narrator, Hawthorne, describes how he heard the curious story of Mr. Wakefield. Hawthorne supplies his audience with a condensed version of the entire plot of the story. With this introduction, Hawthorne has already informed the audience of the story’s intriguing plot and this intensifies the audience’s desire to find out Mr. Wakefield’s motivations because they cannot comprehend why he would do such a thing. The audience will try to make sense of Mr. Wakefield’s actions, but they will not find a logical explanation. The story may seem unreal but the reader must take the story as it is and focus on the charact...
Determine all of the story's conflicts. Determine the major conflict and state this in terms of protagonist versus antagonist.
In Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, there is a broad array of symbolism throughout the entire book. The purpose of using symbolism versus writing out the meaning making an extraordinarily boring and bland book is that it makes the reader have to think more and delve into the deeper meaning of things. Hawthorne also uses symbolism to convey a much deeper mental image of his words to the audience. He uses an vast array of colors, unique characters and grave sin to portray an deeper unconvoluted meaning to the audience; also, by using symbolism, Hawthorne manages to broaden the knowledge and imaginary context of The Scarlet Letter to allow people relate to the novel through the scarlet letter.