Roger Malvin's Burial

by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Natalie Montoto (Editor)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 - May 19, 1864) was an American novelist, Dark Romantic, and short story writer.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, School, American

26 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.

Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published anonymously in the gift book The Token in 1832, “Roger Malvin’s Burial” is one of Hawthorne’s earliest memorable works. I believe it relies too heavily on a particularly theatrical use of coincidence, and therefore fails to achieve the heights of those two other early masterpieces “Young Goodman Brown” and “My Kinsman Major Molineux,” Still, it is rich in incident, deeply felt, and quintessentially Hawthorne. As my Goodreads friend Werner A. Lind has said, “[T]he theme of decades-long guilt souring a person's life, and the evocation of the old New England setting, made it very characteristic of Hawthorne's work as a whole.”

The story takes place in the aftermath of “Lovell’s Fight” (also known as the Battle of Pequawket) against the local Native Americans. The grievously wounded Roger Malvin urges his prospective son-in-law Reuben Bourne (also wounded) to leave him alone to die in the woods, for he knows the two of them are incapable of making it together. Roger reluctantly agrees, promising he will return to rescue him. But circumstances prevent him from fulfilling his vow, and, ashamed, he conceals the truth of his abandonment or Roger from his fiancee—and Roger’s daughter—Dorcas. Dorcas and he are married, but Reuben’s life continues to be poisoned by his suppressed guilt, until, years later, Roger Malvin’s death returns to haunt him again.

By a certain association of ideas, he at times almost imagined himself a murderer. For years, also, a thought would occasionally recur, which, though he perceived all its folly and extravagance, he had not power to banish from his mind; it was a haunting and torturing fancy, that his father-in-law was yet sitting at the foot of the rock, on the withered forest-leaves, alive, and awaiting his pledged assistance. These mental deceptions, however, came and went, nor did he ever mistake them for realities; but in the calmest and clearest moods of his mind, he was conscious that he had a deep vow unredeemed, and that an unburied corpse was calling to him, out of the wilderness.

[Kates · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Nicole ✨Reading Engineer✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was boring. But had a good plot twist at the end...

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tragic and horrid tale of the consequences of broken oaths, and to what lengths guilt will drive a man.

[Alexis Indarc · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been years since a book made my eyes fill with tears but this one did it again.

[Esther Button · Rating 2 out of 5]

(read for uni)

realistically this man shouldn't have been allowed possession of a gun. an interesting look at guilt and the consequences of allowing it to consume you, to become you. Hawthorne's prose is a little bland, though.

this story, in short: 'I feel guilty about letting my father-in-law die alone, even though he begged me to leave him for my own good, so I lied about it for 18 years and then became so consumed with guilt that I fired into a forest where I knew my son was also hunting, and killed him. rather poetically, he died on the same spot where my father-in-law perished.' charming.

rating as of 28/09/2024: 2 stars (slightly harsh)

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hawthorne Hawks #11
Another Hawthorne short work and this one had again some interesting turns of phrase in its prose and was one that certainly was of some value, but for all that it wasn't one that I will possibly remember or really engaged me.

[Cheyenne Braggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️⭐️

If feel like this is a good representation of survivors guilt and PTSD. However it had a very slow start and I felt myself fading off in the middle. I’d have to say this is one of my least favorite Hawthorne stories, but it isn’t bad, just very boring.

[Marcy O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for Honors English 10.

This short story was okay, I think the moral is to never leave someone behind?

After one war with the Indians, Reuben Bourne and his friend Roger Malvin are both injured and cannot make it home. Reuben makes the hard choice of leaving Roger behind to save himself. Years after the traumatic decision, Reuben takes his family camping in the same woods he and Roger had explored in the past. Reuben looks for any sign of Roger, goes a little crazy, and kills his son; it is unclear if his son was accidentally or purposely shot!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

i don’t think yall get this one like i do

[Kelly]

Young Goodman Brown - 2/13/08; Roger Malvin's Burial - 2/13/08.

[siena · Rating 4 out of 5]

kendall roy would do something like this