I enjoyed reading My Kinsman very much, even though I had to keep dictionary.com open as I read it! :) The story begins as young man named Robin arrives by ferry to a city. Once in the city Robin begins to search for his kinsman, Major Molineux. The boy encounters many people in the town and none of them seem to know where his kinsman lives. Eventually, the boy finds one man who tells him to wait where he was for an hour and he would see his kinsman. As Robin waits he meets a friendly stranger who sits and talks with him. Eventually Robin and the stranger hear the noise of a crowd approaching. Among the crowd of people Robin sees Major Molineux who has been tarred and feathered. After the crowed continues on, Robin asks to leave the city and return home to the country. The friendly stranger persuades him to stay for a few days, and tells him that he will succeed in the city even without his kinsman.
As I read I came to realize that the people in the town probably did know who Major Molineux was, but they did not tell Robin. I assume that they knew the Major’s fate and wanted Robin to see his kinsman’s tar and feathering as it happened. I got the impression, once Robin recognized all of the people in the crowd laughing at him, that he was the “butt-end” (for lack of a better word) of a somewhat cruel joke. All of these people seemed to get amusement out of the fact that Robin was searching for this man who they all evidently disliked. To me, this wild crowd to me seemed to be saying, “HAHA we got you! We did know who your kinsman was!” However I may be mistaken on this, because I am a little thrown by the part when Robin begins to laugh along with the crowd. Why does he do that?
As I read this narrative I tried to keep the introduction given on Black Board in my mind. I wanted to keep the fact that Hawthorne was writing this story about the 1730’s in the 1830’s in perspective. I also tried to parallel the story of the young man with the history of America. I think this helped me to better comprehend the story as a whole. Much like America had Great Britain, Robin had Major Molineux who it seemed his entire future revolved around. After the Major was gone Robin steps into his new life and becomes a man. I believe this is similar to the way America is thriving in the 1830’s even without Britain’s help.
After Class-
ReplyDeleteI was happy to see that much of what I understood about My Kinsman Major Molineux was correct. My question about Robin's laughter was answered. I now understand that this was probably the moment when Robin became an individual. I think many would even call it the "defining moment" for his character.
I also found our discussion about the confusion and sense of unease that Hawthorne creates with this story very interesting. Before now I had never considered that an author would purposely write something to make their audience confused. As I look back on my reading of this work I can see that this sense of confusion I had as a reader helped me to better relate to the main character.
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