Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote Young Goodman Brown based on morals and what Easterly in "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown' " calls "spiritual maturity" (Easterly 339). In the short story, Goodman Brown, a young Puritan leaves his wife of three months to watch a witch ceremony in the forest. During this point in time, Puritans based their lives on teachings of religion and morality; therefore, witch-meetings were surely immoral, and they betrayed the commitment of God. Dwelling in the forest throughout the night, Goodman Brown experiences an event that changes his entire perspective of life. In one night, the event destroys "his relationship with his wife Faith, isolates him from his neighbors, and destroys his ability to worship God"(Easterly 339). Eventually, Goodman Brown dies without his faith, and "they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom"(Easterly 339).
Before Brown leaves the house, Faith begs him to stay saying, "...put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night" (Hawthorne 298), but of course, Brown ignores her plea and continues his journey anyhow. In the forest, he meets a man with a staff "which bore the likeness of a great black snake" (Hawthorne 299), an ultimate representation of evil. Surely, Goodman Brown knows that the witch meeting appears to be his destination. Walking through the forest, he pays close attention to every tree and every rock. As he proceeds his journey, Brown sights Faith and his moral and spiritual adviser, along with Deacon Gookin and the minister. He then notices Goody Cloyse, an old "Christian woman" (Hawthorne 300), rushing through the woods. Surely Brown's suspicion begins to take over, now curious about...
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... and spiritual maturity because he could not handle the fact that others worshiped the devil (those he certainly did not expect). In this, Hawthorne tells us that the man who sheds no tears lives the rest of his life a sad man, whose "dying hour was gloom" (Easterly 339).
Works Cited
Easterly, Joan Elizabeth. "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown.' " Studies in Short Fiction. 28 (1991): 339
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1997. 298-308.
Mikosh, Bert A. "The Allegorical Goodman Brown." An American Literature Survey Site. September 1996. < (31 March 1999)
Segura, Giberto. "The View of 'Young Goodman Brown.' " An American Literature Survey Site. September 1996. (31 March 1999)
"Brian Turner." Brian Turner. Ed. Aliso Grantucci. Blue Flower Arts, 2011. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. .
Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting. In Young Goodman Brown, the story primarily
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, Young Goodman Brown is a story of sex, sin, and the Devil, all the entertaining things in life. Hawthorne uses many literary devices to impress strength in his work. Hawthorne uses these techniques to bring out the religious themes within the story.
2.) Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown". printed in: A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature: Fourth Edition. Editors Wilfred L. Guerin, Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman, John R. Willingham. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1999.
Hayes, John, and Charles E. May. "The "Christ-Haunted" South: Contextualizing Flannery O'Connor." Critical Insights: Flannery O'Connor (2011): 43-58. Literary Reference Center. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Mary Flannery O’Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1925 into one of the oldest and most prominent Catholic families in Georgia. She was the only child of Edward, a real estate appraiser, and Regina O’Connor. The year after the family moved to Milledgeville in 1940, Flannery’s father contracted and died of lupus. She and her father had always had a close relationship, and 15-year-old Flannery was devastated (Gordon). Catholicism was always a huge aspect of life for the O’Connor family, living across the street from a cathedral and growing up in the Bible Belt (Liukkonen). Flannery attended parochial schools until entering the Georgia State College for Women, where she entered into an accelerated three-year program as a day student (Gordon). She graduated with a Social Sciences degree in 1945 and left Milledgeville for the State University of Iowa where she had been accepted in Paul Engle’s prestigious Writers Workshop. (“Flannery O’Connor”). Flannery devoted herself to what she loved most, writing, though she spent a great deal of her youth drawing pictures for a career as a cartoonist (Liukkonen). It was at this ...
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol1. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. New York: Norton, 1994. 1198-1207.
Flannery O’Connor is regarded as one of the greatest supporters of Roman Catholic writings in the twentieth century. O’Connor was born in Savannah on March 25th, 1925 and her parents were very devout Catholics. She was raised to always live the Catholic lifestyle. O’Connor was educated at a local parochial school, and after moving to Milledgeville, she continued her education at Peabody Laboratory School. Devastation struck when she lost her father to Lupus Erythematosus. She was only fifteen years old, and little did she know, this disease would end up killing her several years later. After the loss of her father, O’Connor decided to go to Georgia State College for Women and take an accelerated three-year program (Gordon 1).
satisfied and in doing so, they created a new and improved Poland. Previous to the formation of
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” captivates the reader through a glimpse of the Puritan church. The story also shows the struggle of good versus evil in the main character Goodman Brown. The role of the Puritan church is crucial in shaping Goodman Brown’s personality and helping the reader understand why he was reluctant to continue his journey.
McKeithan, D. M. Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown": An Interpretation 67.2 (1952): 93-96. JSTOR. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Parent Activity Funds Narrative." Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
The ability to have access to better resources for sure allows one to explore better options, but for children in a low socioeconomic life style options are limited. For example, children from this type of living lack the finances to shop for healthier more expensive foods. Socioeconomic status is defined by ones education, income, occupation, and is also known to include the social standing of a group or individual (Education and Socioeconomic Status 1). This could lead many people in this status to take up unhealthy eating habits. Children that live in a low socioeconomic lifestyle become the victims of this unhealthy eating and the obesity epidemic that has hit the United States is a result of that. In addition, children that eat too many calories pick up excess weight because of the lack of energy being burned through physical activity (Bales, Coleman, Wallinga 1). The problems with our health care has brought to the table many debates on what we do with it and how do we move forward for the future, and socioeconomic status and childhood obesity has been a part of that debate.
Hawthorn, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown" The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol. I. Shorter Seventh Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2008. 620-629. Print.
Gorman, Siobhan. "China Singled Out for Cyberspying." The Wall Street Journal 4 Nov. 2011. Print. (Source E)