The various places he stops represent certain alternative futures, and the brothel promises one of pleasure. His ability to resist it -- whether through morality or lack of money -- and continue on his journey is indicative of the revolutionary spirit. The fact that he keeps moving, and keeps searching in new places, matched the movement of the revolution and indeed of the country since then as it goes through its great democratic experiment. Hawthorne's story is very enjoyable just as a piece of fiction. It is also an interesting historical piece, describing the feel of life in pre-Revolutionary America and the different opinions at various levels of society. These things are...
Time and place are incredibly essential to this story; the story is, in fact, about the changing political setting of the American Revolution and the years preceding it. Hawthorne is a master of storytelling not because of the subject matter of his stories, but because of the ways he describes the settings. Though he employs other literary elements with equal alacrity, his use of setting is of paramount importance in "My Kinsman, Major Molineux."
Hawthorne: My Kinsman, Goodman Brown The United States experienced great political, social and economic change during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Breaking ties with Great Britain under the Declaration of Independence developed a unique American tradition. The major emphasis was placed on the individual, whose need to succeed would result in the best possible world for everyone concerned. In the two works "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" and "Young Goodman Brown"
Nathaniel Hawthorne's beliefs concerning ethics, morality, and guilt as made evident in one of these stories. Consider how beliefs affect characterization, setting, plotting, and theme. In the story of Rappaccini's daughter, the narrator becomes infatuated with a young woman whose life literally has become poisoned, because of her father's influence. Unlike a conventional Christian system of morality, as is typical of most of the author's other tales, the girl is
Man of the Crowd By Edgar Allan Poe (1840) The story significantly depicts not only the preoccupation of the 17th hundred London issues and a trend brought by the progressive industrialization of time, but speaks so much relevance in our modern time as well. The epigraph which sums up the very essence of the story explains the dynamic of a human being too busy to mingle with the crowd for fear of
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