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

A lot of the time when we look at the writers that wrote specifically during the romanticism era we see it vital to figure out the significant, every so often underlining, messages that an author may be trying to convey through their plot, character arrangement or even the scenes that the characters find themselves in. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s My Kinsman, Major Molineux, is a great example of how an author tells more about the world around themselves through the stories they write. In this short story we are introduced to a young boy, Robin, who is in search of an older gentleman, Major Molineux, which he feels a strong connection to and is determined to find. From a literal perspective one could see this short story for exactly what is written but to gather a deeper meaning it is important to look at the symbolism of a quest/journey to understand what Hawthorne may have been expressing. On a profounder level this short story is about reform and the journey to become conscious that the stability and security a person may have once had may not be present when reform takes place. But Hawthorne goes even deeper by allowing Robin to come to conclusion that, more importantly, he did not need Major Molineux to survive. This story can be seen as a story of some of the American people after independence. We can see that the American people, young and inquisitive, were going through a journey much like Robin. The American people, during this time period, had gained their independence from Great Britain for quite some time but not every American citizen had adapted to the transformation and reform. Some Americans still had emotional ties to the system that was once in place and were on the journey of understanding the importance of their free...

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This short story embodies the revolutionary perception that provoked colonists to reject their ties with Great Britain. There were signs that people did not like the Major or did not want to be associated with him. “Not intimately…but I chanced to meet him a little…” (Hawthorne, 383) It implies that it was necessary for the American to move onward without the help of Great Britain. The Major could be defeated and had been. “…His enemies had found the means to shake it…” (Hawthorne, 383)By Robin learning the truth about his uncle, he somehow becomes of age and he no longer needs the authority that was once placed over him. He, just like the American people, now rejects the previous authority. Being confronted with the decision to not return to his home and to stay in Boston is one that asserts the similarities between the American colonists and Robin.