Short stories, when written by the same author, vary by subject but sometimes contain similar themes. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an entertaining writer who wrote many such stories. Two among his works have some striking similarities. “Young Goodman Brown” and “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” both were written within three years of each other by Hawthorne (1832-1835). The biggest similarities between the stories were with the main character of each. Robin from “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” and Brown from “Young Goodman Brown” were both young men on a journey that took them through a single night. Both men held some innocent or nave worldviews. Both had idealistic views of people that were proven to be untrue. Both men experienced events that should be perceived as symbolic. However, each man met a different fate. Both Robin and Brown took journeys that changed their lives forever. Both of these journeys took place mostly under the cover of darkness. That was symbolic of the naivet of both men. Both men met a series of people on their journey that turned up later in a different light. Robin met a large man in an inn. When he later saw him again, he saw the man as man with a two-toned black and red face. The change was only a symbolic one that reflected Robin’s view of the evil of the man. Brown experienced something similar with the character Goody Cloyse, who he thought a devote Christian. Later, he saw her on the road chatting with the devil like they were old friends. Both men had an idealized character. Greater than the changes in the minor characters, both men had their views of their idealized character completely changed, which changes their life. Brown’s wife Faith symbolized his faith, so he held an idealized view of her. At the end of his journey, she appears at the devil’s ceremony, which is symbolic of his loss of faith. He never sees her in the...
