Simon O. Lesser
THE IMAGE OF THE FATHER
A Reading of "My Kinsman, Major Molineux"
and "I Want to Know Why"
The scene of Hawthorne's story "My Kinsman, Major
Molineux" is aNew England colony; the time, like the place not
too precisely fixed, a "moonlight" night during that period before
the Revolution when Great Britain "had assumed the right of ap–
pointing the colonial governors."
A young boy of eighteen, named Robin, has come to town to
seek his relative, Major Molineux. The Major is either governor of
the colony or a subordinate of high rank- just which is not made
clear. The boy has good reasons for wanting to find him. He is the
second son of a poor clergyman. His elder brother is destined to in–
herit the farm "which his father cultivated in the interval of sacred
duties." The Major is not only rich and influential but childless, and,
during a visit paid his cousin the clergyman a year or two before
the story opens, has shown an interest in Robin and his brother and
hinted he would be happy to establish one of them in life. Robin has
been selected for the honor, handsomely fitted out in homespun,
and, to cover the expenses of his journey, given half the remnant
of his father's salary of the year before.
Just before reaching the town Robin has had to cross a river,
and
it
occurs to him that he should have perhaps asked the ferry–
man to direct him to the home of his kinsman or perhaps even ac–
compatny him as a guide. But he reflects that the first person he
meets will serve as well. To his surprise, however, he experiences re–
buff after rebuff, difficulty upon difficulty. He asks an elderly
gentleman to direct him, but the man not only disclaims any knowl–
edge of the Major; he rebukes Robin so angrily-the youth has im–
pulsively gripped the old man's coat- that some people nearby roar
with laughter. Robin now wanders through a maze of deserted
