My Kinsman, Major Molineux Analysis

The time in which the passage “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” is based off was one of wariness and confidentiality was one unlike any other in our country’s history. The people of the thirteen colonies were absolutely fed up with the tyrannical British rule. This sense of disgust towards the British monarch caused for the colonists to take drastic, and sometimes violent measures to get their voices heard. Among these acts of revolt were that of public humiliation of British sympathizers. This is the background information we receive as a backdrop to what is going to occur with Robin and his Kinsman, Major Molineux. The only problem is that our main protagonist Robin was unaware of the true nature of his Kinsman and his relationship with the people of the town in which he traveled. This unawareness of the truth is the driving force which makes the “Molineux” story that much more entertaining and, to some degree, more telling of how people were acting during the weeks and months leading up to the American Revolution. When we are first introduced to Robin, he is described as a rather young man with kind features and a generally upbeat

Here, Robin learns the truth regarding his kinsman, Major Molineux. As it turns out, Molineux was tarred and feathered as an act of punishment and humiliation for, presumably, sympathizing with the British. It is then that Robin sees all the people with whom he interacted with over the course of the day. The innkeeper, the woman in the scarlet petticoat and the man with the polished cane all are present to bask in the utter humiliation of Major Molineux. The Major is utterly terrified, and “His whole frame was agitated by a continual tremor…” (p.1287). At the sight of the Major, the whole crowd burst out in laughter. After a while, our protagonist Robin begins to laugh in unison with the