Dec 26, 2009

My Kinsman, Major Molineux | What Do I Read Next?

‘‘Young Goodman Brown’’ (1835) is another Hawthorne short story of a young man on a journey. Brown leaves his wife and sets out through the forest, where he stumbles upon a witches’ coven and finds his wife among them. He returns to Salem a gloomy man who has lost his faith in the goodness of humans.

Hawthorne’s ‘‘The Birthmark’’ (1843) is an allegorical tale in which a scientist marries a woman who is perfectly beautiful except for a tiny birthmark on her cheek. Determined to remove the mark, the scientist tries several methods, finally finding a potion that...