The Young Goodman Brown - Inside and Out
Brown's relationship to his society can be looked at from the outside and inside. From the outside, Brown sees everything as fine. He sees the people as they appear to be: good, well-mannered, civil. From the inside, as when he "sees" how the people act in the forest and at the trial, he sees them as he sees himself: human. That scares him. He sees that, like himself, they keep their activities (things they do that the townsfolk would frown upon) to themselves. Humans make bad decisions all of the time. Yet we learn more from that bad experience, and that allows us to cope with the situation if it comes up again.
Brown feels concerned about the thoughts and emotions that he has with his wife, Faith. He knows that these strong feelings are only natural but he can't stand the fact that he knew he wasn't suppose to be having them.This is the reason for going to the forest to test his faith.
I don't believe this "forest" to be real but a part of a dream that Brown has. When Brown sees the old man (the Devil) talking to Goody Cloyse, he is taken aback. How could such a good and respected woman be cohorting with the likes of such a person? Some of the images in the story are representative of the spiritual world. For example, the "people" in the forest seem to appear and disappear right into thin air, the staff turns into a serpent, the trees are on fire one minute and not the next. Once Brown sees how the townsfolk (or their images) act towards the "Devil" in the forest, he sees that they are human, too, and that they make mistakes just as he does. It is strange to use the word "human" here because we are really speaking of the images Brown thinks he sees and these images could very well be a dream. We know that in dreams things are most likely distorted. Whether Brown was having a dream or actually experiencing this we are not told. It would certainly help to understand if we knew the answer. However, once the night is over and Brown returns home he starts to sees things in a much different light, albeit it's a dimmer light. Every time he sees one of the "good" townspeople, he can't help but see the bad in them. Brown's life will never be the same.
I really liked this story but I would have liked it even more if Hawthorne hadn't left so many important questions unanswered. What was his reason for this? Maybe he wants us to draw our own conclusions. That's not a bad guess. Also, this is a story about what Brown is thinking and imagining; what is "real" for him might not appear real to other people.
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