After
Lovell’s Fight
“Cold, cold is the
north wind and rude is the blast / That sweeps like a hurricane loudly and
fast, / As it moans through the tall waving pines lone and drear, / Sighs a
requiem sad ‘er the warrior’s bier” (http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=2095)
describes the same situation in “Roger Malvin’s Burial” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Both the poem and the story take place very close to each other—both during
Father Rale’s War, also called The Battle of Pequawket and Lovewell’s Fight. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pequawket)
“The Battle of Lovell’s Pond” describes the actual fight, while “Roger Malvin’s
Burial” suggests the effect it may have had on those who fought and survived. In
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, Reuben Bourne goes mad because of his actions and
also the expectations of the society he lives in, but returns to sanity after
an event that would make most people more eccentric.
“Roger Malvin’s Burial” takes place in 1725, directly
after Lovell’s Fight. At this time, the Wabanaki Confederacy fought on one side
and the New England Colonies and Mohawk Native Americans on the other (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Rale%27s_War).
Compared to most battles, this one tends to the small side, with only 47 Englishmen
and Mohawk Native Americans fighting. However, a relatively small battle still
contains men killing other men, which often wears down the minds of the
survivors. In the case of this story, Reuben Bourne and Roger Malvin appear mentally
sound while escaping—at least, as mentally sound as one can be while badly
injured to the point of death and trying to leave the area where angry scalp
hunters may live.
Because Reuben Bourne grew up in a Judeo-Christian
society, even when his mind leaves, he behaves in ways that society considers
proper. The biggest example occurs at the beginning of the story. Rueben Bourne
knows that when a person is dying, one should stay while the person dies, then
bury him. But, Roger Malvin tells Reuben Bourne “Your last moments will need
comfort far more than mine; and when you have laid me in the earth, and are alone,
and night is settling on the forest, you will feel all the bitterness of death
that may now be escaped...you led my tottering footsteps many a mile, and left
me only at my earnest entreaty, because I would not have your blood upon my
soul.” Reuben Bourne, however, does not want to leave because if Roger Malvin
dies before he can return, he has to tell Roger Malvin’s daughter, Dorcas. He
avoids telling Dorcas the whole truth through the first fifteen years of their
marriage, which may not have helped him recover from the battle.
In several different cultures which influenced the
society where Reuben Bourne lives, the lack of burying means an incomplete
death. This appears first in Greek poetry—often an unburied person appears to
the hero and makes it known he is unburied and should be. Roger Malvin appears
to Reuben Bourne in a way similar to the Greek poems: through conscious instead
of visions. However, through the Middle Ages and somewhat into the 18th
century, many Christians believed than a person had to be buried in a church
yard or he would not enter heaven. Possibly, Reuben Bourne grew up in a church
which believed this, but since he did not bury Roger Malvin, he felt guilty.
However, when Cyrus Bourne dies, Reuben Bourne’s mind
returns. Perhaps, Reuben Bourne felt that upon the death, he could perform the
proper burial, as Roger Malvin asked. On the other hand, Reuben Bourne may feel
that Cyrus was the younger version of himself, and thus by dying erased the
past and gave Reuben Bourne and Dorcas a chance to start again. The story
reads, “The vow that the wounded youth had made the blighted man had come to
redeem. His sin was expiated,--the curse was gone from him...”
In “Roger Malvin’s Burial,” Reuben Bourne’s mind
leaves because of his actions and the expectations of the society he lives in,
but recovers after a normally somewhat traumatizing event. Because of traditions
from mythology and Christianity, his mind may have left from the guilt of not
following them. Further, the lack of accurate communication between Dorcas and
Reuben Bourne added to the guilt. “The din of the battle, the tumult, is o’er,
/ And the war-clarion’s voice is now heard no more.” (http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=2095)
Works
Cited
http://www.hwlongfellow.org/poems_poem.php?pid=2095
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pequawket
Huismann “Analyze This
Class” The Potter’s School 6-18-14
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