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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Roger Malvin’s Burial”: A descendant of the infamous Judge John Hathorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne changed his last name with hopes to sever all ties to the judge out of embarrassment of the Salem Witch Trials. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts and was originally part of the Transcendentalist community called Brookwood Farm. He later left disillusioned and joined the ranks of the Anti-Transcendentalist community. In 1846, Hawthorne wrote a collection of short stories called Mosses from an Old Manse Volume 2. This collection included the short story, “Roger Malvin’s Burial.” The story is about an ambitious young man, Reuben Bourne, not fulfilling the promise he makes to a dying man (Roger Malvin) after a battle. Reuben promises that he will walk to the next encampment and rest and will later return to give Roger a proper burial. Reuben never returns to Roger Malvin because he feels like a coward and traitor after regaining conscious and could not admit to Dorcas (Roger’s daughter) that he had left him dying in the woods. Reuben later marries the daughter of Roger and they both have a child named Cyrus. After many years as a family, the guilt inside of Reuben becomes so much t