Nathaniel Hawthorne creates an intricate and amazing dialog within the short story “Roger Malvin’s Burial”. Reuben Bourne and Roger Malvin, presented with a particular dilemma, are forced to battle each other, as might two lawyers in a courtroom. Here however, the two sides are not against each other, moreover their verbal war rages on in pursuit of what would be best for all others involved. Reuben ignorantly fears that he will choose his best course of action out of selfishness. That being an ignorant fear because Reuben has no other choice but to act out of selfishness. His conscience, not understanding this and failing to grasp that what he did was not wrong, ultimately leads to more death than just that of Roger Malvin.With Reuben seriously wounded, Roger spends all night awake, in pain and realizing his own wound will prove to be fatal. He no doubt contemplates the wisest plan of action throughout the night, and thus tells Reuben when the boy wakes, “This rock, beneath which we sit, will serve for an old hunter’s grave-stone. …The Indian bullet was deadlier than I thought.” And thus the verbal chess game began.The argument is a noble one. Both combatants wish to do right by the other, and while Reuben insist that he does not want to act out of selfishness, Roger persist that the honorable course is to do as a man must sometimes, and take the bad over the worse. To leave Roger Malvin alone to die in the woods is bad, all can agree on that. But the crux of the argument lies in what happens if Roger Malvin is not left alone to die. -He still dies, and Rueben dies, and Dorcas is left without her father or eventual husband. Roger understands this situation very well, and using every persuasive fact or story he can think of, he undergoes the task of convincing Reuben to leave. Their personal relationship, their ages, their families and loved ones, the burial place, personal examp...
