My Kinsman Major Molineux a Critical Analysis

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. "...;---- _! _11_'___.."'_... ..... =_,,."_ .;...........'.1......,.. __..... 11 ........ •_ _........... _ti(i$l,..,;.S!!l'!lIgical, and s ooial a nalys!s. F urthermore, a s ttJ!y Q f n arrative t echnique, i n\:ludinq 1 :he u se o f n arrative v oiee' b rings t ogether· t he , t.hree p reviously e onsidered a spects. , U nti1 1 955, t he s tory h ad b een v irtually n eglectec! b y '\ a nthologists a nd s tudents o f H awthorne. - now, h owever, "My l{insman, Ma~or F or s everal y ears M olineux" h as b een amonq . t he most a nthologi,zed ,and w idely r ead, s tories. H arth,orne . h ims,elf, i n f act, r ecogni'zes t he v alue o f h is e arly & tories, . includin~, o f' c ourse, "My K insman" i n' a l letter d edicatin'g r ' " T he Siiow Image 1:0 Br i dge • I n y outh men a re A pt t o w ri t e w~sely t1}Ian t he y r eally know o r f ee'l, and t he r émainder o f l ife may b e n ot i dly s pent ~_.-/ i n r ealizing and con~incing t hemselves ~1 o f t he wisdom whd.ch ' they ~ttered l ong, a go. .. ' Most c ritics a gree t hat "My K insman, M ajor M olineux" r anks among H awthorne' s mo\{" ~aseinatipg s tories. ~yatt waggon~r, f or e xample, a~ques t hat i t l s " one o f t he g reate st t ales i n the.l~nguage.n2 Seymo~r J ross d eseribes i t a s ,• • !\ r " " c' • 1 , -r . ' .. , . ' ,J '" 1 ,f l 2 " • , j / ,- -tr one o f H awthorne' s J,:nost p owerful s hort st~ries."3 A t hird c ritic, M alcolm C owley, , classifi~. , i t' a s o ne o f . Hawthqrne"s "ea~ly mast~rpieces." 4' ,?-Obe;t LoW~ll! t he t~entieth c elltury p oet, w rote a d ramatio v ersion o f" "My K ins:uan." ' T hus 1 i f t he s tory was o verlooked f qr a é entury, i t i s now e xtenSi\.e- ,

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