Nathaniel Hawthorne

In the beginning of My Kinsman the author goes on to tell about a young man named Robin, who arrives to a unfamiliar town and is looking for Major Molineux. Robin is dressed very strangely and everyone who he stops to talk to just looks at him and walks away. As he began to dwell down the streets looking for someone to point him in the direction of his kinsman, he figures out the none of the shops in town are open.  He continued to wander aimlessly down the streets until he was approached with the smell of food. He figured he could scrape up enough money for something to eat so he walked in and followed the voices until he found the main room. When approaching the room, Robin wasn't really attracted to or felt comfortable with anyone in the room except a few countrymen. His attention was also drew to some men in the corner conversing amongst themselves.

Robin was then approached with the innkeeper who was asking about his whereabouts and congratulating him on making it safely to their town. Robin wanted to tell the innkeeper that he was related to the kinsman but he withheld that information and continued his conversation with him. When Robin told the innkeeper that he was there to see the Major, the room fell silent and the innkeeper laughed in his face. Robin left the inn and went on his way to find the Major himself. He wandered the streets until night fell and he soon began to get very tired and hungry and there was no one around. He then stumbled upon a house with the door cracked and a light on inside. When he spoke with the mistress inside, he learned that the Major Molineux stayed there. She told Robin that she would tell the Major that he stopped by, but he was asleep for the night and she wasn't going to wake him up.

Robin left in disappointment and began to walk back down the empty streets. He continued to try to find someone to tell him where Major Molineux was, but everyone continued to laugh at him. Robin got to the point where he was getting aggravated and started to knock on every decent looking house that he thought his kinsman might reside at. He was approached by a large stranger and asked him the same question as everyone else. At first the stranger did not want to answer his question but then he finally told Robin to wait there for another hour and his kinsman would pass through. So Robin stayed on that street studying the buildings and their architecture. He sat within a church and while waiting for his kinsman he heard irregular noises coming from the front that made him feel uncomfortable.

He then began to reminisce on how things were in his home church and he became confused on whether he was here or there. He then was staring at a figure in the church where Robin had dozed off waiting for Major Molineux. To his surprise, the stranger did not judge or laugh at him when he asked the whereabouts of his kinsman. Robin's new friend began to question him and ask why he wanted to see the major and who told him to wait at the church. During their conversation, noises began to arise from all areas and it shocked Robin.  Upon all the commotion, Robin stood aside the street examining all of the people who walked by until finally he was approached with a uncovered cart carrying Major Molineux! Robin then begins to fall asleep, then awakens suddenly and asks the nearby man where the ferry is. The man refuses to tell him where it is and said that in a few days he will show him where the ferry is or maybe he'll choose to stay.

When reading this story, it kind of related back to the Benjamin Franklin story. In the beginning, Robin is wandering upon new land in which he is unfamiliar with, just as Benjamin was when he reached Burlington.

Some of the words they used throughout the story like in paragraph twelve "caravansary." The dialogue throughout the story was confusing to understand at first, but once you kept reading and put yourself into the story you could get a better understanding of what Robin was talking about.