“Young Goodman Brown” is a tale of a man’s battle with his faith. It is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most complexing tales. Many unanswered questions arise as you read it. One of the most obvious questions is if these events are actually happening as reality, or if they are all a dream. I don’t believe that it really matters. The essay’s events still have the same impact on Brown’s life whether they took place, or were just a twisted nightmare. Richard Fogle in his essay “Ambiguity and Clarity in Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’” also notes the insignificance of the dream! “At any rate the effect on Goodman Brown is instantaneous and devastating” (210). “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory about a man who has lost his faith due to the fact that he has based his faith on the people of his town, church, and his family.
Hawthorne sets the scene with Brown saying goodbye to his wife, Faith, as he embarks on his journey through the forest. This is representative of what every man goes through in his lifetime. We all must decide what we believe in at some point in our lives. It is human nature, and we have been doing it since the introduction of religion into society. Once Brown meets his travel companion, who I believe is the devil, he doesn’t want to continue on. He is recalling on what he was taught by his fellow members of the community that it is wrong to associate with evil. He has so much faith in them and what they taught him, that he continues on, forever believing that his faith will overcome the devil’s temptations. Brown draws strength from the admiration and reverence that he has for his family and spiritual teachers. His guide, Satan, begins to place doubt into the heart and soul of Brown’s spiritual foundation. He spe...
... middle of paper ...
...n taught and perceived to be faithful. The only problem is that his faith was not based on the right things. He drew strength from the people of his town, church, and his family, and his marriage. Unfortunately, all of these things had no true substance that could be used to resist the devil. In conclusion, I believe that Nathaniel Hawthorne used the story
“Young Goodman Brown” as a representation of a man’s life journey and what can happen to his faith if it’s not built on God Himself.
Works Cited
Fogle, Richard. “Ambiguity and Clarity in Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’” A Casebook on the Hawthorne Question. Ed. Agnes McNeil Donohue. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1963. 207-221.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown” Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts Henry E. Jacobs. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998. 324-332.
Engberg, Gillian. "The Bite of the Mango." Booklist 1 Jan. 2009: 59. General OneFile. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
"Helicopter Parenting Can Be a Good Thing." USA Today Magazine May 2010: 8-9. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Skeels, Lindia L.M..(Cartographer) “(1976)” Ethnolinguistic Distribution of the Native Texas Indians1500-1776 [Topographic] Retrieved from http://mappery.com/map-of/Ethnolinguistic-Distribution-of-Native-Texas-Indians-from-1500-and-1776-Map
Sullivan, Wilson. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In New England Men of Letters. New York: Macmillan Co., 1972.
“Lead me not into temptation. I can find the way myself,” Rita Mae Brown once remarked. Temptation is all around, no matter where one might be, there is no use in going out and looking for it. For some individuals, the enticement is so strong that it has caused them to break away from the ties that once bound them to their upbringing, such as faith, but for others, it has brought them even closer to their faith. There is no questioning whether or not one would be strong enough to deny the temptation in order to remain pure, but, rather one’s faith is strong enough to go through the test that has been taking place since the very beginning when Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden of Eden. Tone and symbolism throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an extraordinary writer, who used real life experiences in every one of his stories. However, growing up in a Puritan society during a reformation gave Hawthorne a distorted view on God’s character. Hawthorne was intelligent, but by no means a people person, which created a pathway for him to become an author. There were a few key points in his life growing in a religion zealous society that lead him to abandon his faith. Hence, the short story of “Young Goodman Brown” representing that humans are cynical and evil, and the dangers of losing your faith in God.
During Goodman Brown’s journey, he recognized Goody Cloyse, his catechism teacher, the preacher, and Deacon Gookin is going to the devil’s meeting. However, after seeing his church members at the devil’s meeting, Goodman says, “My Faith is gone! and There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come devil! for to thee is this world given” (Hawthorne 27). “But, where is Faith?”, asked Goodman Brown (Hawthorne 29). As hope came into his heart, he trembled when he found the pink ribbon of his wife, Faith, in the forest. At that moment, Goodman Brown lost his faith in his family and church members. Goodman becomes unforgiving of others and believes only evil can be created from evil and there is nothing that anyone can do to change it. Here, Hawthorne demonstrates that a naive faith in our family, friends, and church member’s righteousness could lead to distrust. While, “Young Goodman Brown” lives a long life with Faith, he never loses his meanness toward humanity and the evil in the world, “for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne
In the story "Young Goodman Brown", Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a dream to illustrate a young man’s loss of innocence, understanding of religion and his community. Through this dream, the main character Young Goodman realizes that the people that he surrounds himself with are not who he believes them to be. The story of “Young Goodman Brown” focuses on the unconscious mind. The characters in this short-story are able to represent the struggle of Young Goodman’s superego, ego, and id.
“Young Goodman Brown” believed he found his salvation. This is not the actual way to
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.
Faith can be defined, as a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. "Young Goodman Brown" is about a man who leaves his wife, Faith, at home alone for a night while he takes a walk down the road of temptation with the devil. Along the road he sees many people that he would never expect to see on this road, his wife included. He returns to his life in Salem a changed man. In "Young Goodman Brown" Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism and characterization to imply that when individuals lose their faith in the goodness of mankind, they may begin to imagine that their peers have yielded to temptation.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." 1835. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter et al. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Lexington: Heath, 1944. 2129-38.
During the author’s life in New York and Oberlin College, he understood that people who have not experienced being in a war do not understand what the chaos of a war does to a human being. And once the western media started sensationalizing the violence in Sierra Leone without any human context, people started relating Sierra Leone to civil war, madness and amputations only as that was all that was spoken about. So he wrote this book out o...
First, we will start with Goodman Brown. He is the main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story titled “Young Goodman Brown”. “Hawthorne could not escape the influence of Puritan society” (McCabe). I think that Hawthorne’s own past is and complications are reveled in his story about Goodman Brown. I believe that Goodman Brown has had a rough past and is trying to reach beyond his past in order to reach heaven. Goodman has some major problems with his wife, Faith, and everyone else in his community. I think that he is seeing everyone as perfect people, but he is having impure thoughts about himself and his past. In order to deal with these problems within himself, he is making up that everyone has this awful bad side. When he goes into the forest, he believes he is talking to the devil with looks much like his grandfather. The devil is feeding him bad thoughts about everyone he knows, even his own father and his wife Faith. Next, I believe that Goodman Brown has had a rough past and in order for him to overcome this within himself he must search for attention. This attention may not be needed from his wife or community members, I believe it is needed from him. He is feeling overwhelmed with obligations from his wife and peers that he has no time to decide whether this type of life is right for him. So, in search for the answer to his questions about life, he turns to the devil and takes his...
Comparing The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and Style Toward Clarity and Grace by Williams