Pauline Christiansen

American Literature 267A

Questions on Hawthorne’s Stories

“My Kinsman, Major Molineux”

“Young Goodman Brown”

1.	“My Kinsman, Major Molineux” has been interpreted as an allegory of the relations between America and England at the time tale takes place. What evidence can you find in the story to support such a reading? In such a reading, which characters would stand for which aspects of the conflict? How would the “tow-complexioned” man fit in? What would Hawthorne’s attitude toward revolution seem to be? What aspects of the tale do not seem to fit such a reading?
2.	“My Kinsman, Major Molineux” is also seen as a tale of initiation. If this is true, what is Robin being initiated into? How do you explain Robin’s joining in the crowds’ laughter until “Robin’s shout was the loudest there”? In what way, is the laugh on himself? What has Robin learned from the event? What is his reaction following the event? What evidence have we actually had of Robin’s “shrewdness”?
3.	What is the allegorical significance of Goodman Brown’s journey--what universal human experience is being described? How do the roles of his grandfather, father, mother, Goody Cloyse, Deacon Gookin, the minister, and finally his wife, Faith, fit into this experience? What makes Goodman Brown decide to attend the forest meeting? Does it make any difference to the reader or to Brown whether the experience was a dream or reality? Why or why not?
4.	By refusing to join the brotherhood human evil, Goodman Brown presumably scores a triumph and retains his innocence. Yet paradoxically this triumph makes the rest of his life miserable. What is the cause of his misery? What does Goodman Brown’s unhappy state suggest about the sources of earthly happiness? Explain the allegory from the viewpoint of seeing Brown as a Calvinist who hopes for Divine Election.

“The Minister’s Black Veil,”

“Ethan Brand,”

1.	Is the black veil worn by Parson Hooper provocative (an outward symbol worn to give a visible message to his congregation), reactive (his own reaction to what he sees in others as well as himself) or both? Why does the veil produce such an overwhelming negative effect? How might the wearing of the veil be seen as producing as great a sin as what the veil was intended to hide? If the veil was so negative why did it make his preaching more effective? Why was he shunned in peoples’ “health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal anguish”?
2.	How might the black veil be seen as portraying the same themes as those encountered in “Young Goodman Brown” and Ethan Brand”?
3.	Compare Ethan Brand’s “unpardonable sin” to that of Rappaccini in “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” Which character do you find most “unpardonable” and why? How might Hawthorne’s definition of the “unpardonable sin” be read as an attack on the “Age of Reason”?
4.	Ethan Brand’s quest can be read as a parable of spiritual self-destruction that ends in the ultimate act of self destruction, suicide. Could you argue that suicidal or self destructive tendencies are also a strong theme in other stories we have read? Which stories? what usually lies behind these tendencies? How do they relate to Hawthorne’s basic themes or ideas?

D:\Englisha-h\Christiansen\267\QuestonHawthornestorwin03