McGowan Hawthorne

Throughout Hawthorne's stories, "Young Goodman Brown", "The Minister's Black Veil", and "My Kinsman, Major Molineux", we see a consistently large emphasis on one's place in the community as the definition of one's identity within. These stories all trace the Unpardonable Sin, or corruption of the human heart, to some disruption in a given character's identity. In "Young Goodman Brown", this disruption in character stems from Goodman Brown's face to face experience with the devil, in which he is told that "Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness." In this apparition, Goodman Brown sees all of the respectable, Christian members of his community partaking in this wicked ceremony. Goodman Brown's subsequent perception of his community upon his return marks the effects of the corruption of his heart as a result of the Unpardonable Sin of trekking deep into the woods. It is important to note that throughout this story, Goodman Brown's outer character always matches his inner feelings. Specifically, he is described in the end as: "A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream". 

In "The Minister's Black Veil", Hawthorne takes a somewhat different perspective on the disruption of one's identity. For the people in his community, the once respectable and gentlemanly Mr. Hooper becomes an ominously secretive man all because of his choice to always wear a black veil. "Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meeting-house. Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them." For the members of his community, Mr. Hooper's choice to wear the black veil must signify some dark abhorrent secret and therefore his soul must be profoundly corrupt; "The black veil, though it covers only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot. Do you not feel it so?" The conclusion one might draw from this perception is that for Hawthorne, one's outward appearance is symbolic of or one and the same as one's inner self. Therefore, Mr. Hooper's choice to wear the veil represents some dark projection of his inner corruption, possibly an Unpardonable Sin. 

"My Kinsman, Major Molineux" tackles this issue from a familial perspective. Robin's intention in looking for his kinsman stems from his hopefulness regarding what identity Major Molineux takes in his community."'This low hovel cannot be my kinsman's dwelling,' thought he, 'nor yonder old house, where the moonlight enters at the broken casement; and truly I see none hereabouts that might be worthy of him.'" We see in the beginning that Robin is interested in taking on this very same identity, as family constitutes most of what makes up one's identity and Robin is presently unknown. The reveal at the end of the story, however, is met with Robin's adamance toward leaving this community, as the only place for him within it is that of scrutiny. The message here is that one cannot escape one's own family. However, it is possible for one to make a positive name for oneself apart from family. At the end of the story, a man says to Robin, "Or, if you prefer to remain with us, perhaps, as you are a shrewd youth, you may rise in the world without the help of your kinsman, Major Molineux." This reflects a sense of hope in the ability to rise in one's community despite Robin's very negative precedence.