Stories have an opportunity to leave the reader with many different impressions. When you look a different characters within the stories the ones that leave the greatest impressions are the ones that tend to scare us. The figures in Bob Dylar’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?”, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, and Stephen King’s “The Man in the Black Suite” all instill a bit of fear in the reader. They are symbols that represent the devil or devil like attributes in people and the uncertainties of human nature.
The figure in Dylar’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?”, starts off as an individual who could possibly be trusted but ends up as an imposter who abducts Connie. He creates a feeling of uneasiness and seeks to simply possess Connie as if she were an object to add to his collection of people. In the beginning of the story the figure, known as Arnold, seems almost believable as a human being. If it weren’t for his odd looking hair, he could be seen as a normal teenage boy. He has the mannerism of a teenage boy, dresses like a teenage boy, and has similar interests to that of a teenager. “She recognized most things about him, the tight jeans that showed his thighs and buttocks and the greasy leather boots and the tight shirt, and even that
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He appears to Goodman as an older gentlemen who could be related to Goodman. “The second traveler was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, through perhaps more in expression than feature” (2). The reader automatically assumes that the stranger symbolizes the devil and wants Goodman to leave his Christian faith behind and join him. He does this by uncovering the past sins of Goodman’s family members and the clergy within the church that Goodman
Another form of fear that is later introduced is the concept of the boys humanity slowly becoming strayed. In the novel there is a great amount of foreshadowing towards this topic. An example coul...
Grave and somewhat solid in his tone, he is overflowing with purpose. The danger he takes in disclosing his contention's potential defects and testing the readers judgments will yield the uneasiness that penetrates his exposition, as well as additionally individuals' personalities. His dialect and tone, withdrawing from the scholastic investigation of monsters, exhibits a genuine yet energetically inciting demeanor to the group of onlookers. We see the modest, unexpected comical inclination that he has well covered up under the earnestness and details of a
When writing a story that is meant to scare the reader, authors use a variety of different literary elements to intensify fear. This is apparent in the stories “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “beware: do not read this poem,” and “House Taken Over”. It is shown through transformation in the character, setting, and sometimes even the story or poem itself, adding to the scariness that the reader feels when reading it. While there are some examples of transformation not being scary or not playing a role in stories meant to scare us, transformation plays a crucial role in making the reader of these stories scared.
The Scarlet Letter, The Green Mile, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Stephen King are the novels and authors that have struck many readers with a frightened character in stories of ridicule and punishment. Anti-transcendentalism and horror are rarely seen as genres people can compare because of their stark, blinding contrasts. However, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Stephen King’s The Green Mile can be noted for their commonalities and their differences in the authors’ styles, the books’ themes, the stories’ plots, and how these books are seen in the classroom.
The next character is Young Goodman Brown himself. His name also becomes a multilayered metaphor. Being known as “young” represents Goodman Browns innocence and virtue. He is also condensed to represent his own consciousness. But, by leaving his wife, Faith, Young Goodman Brown is giving into the unconscious. "He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind" (Kelly, 191). Taking this path that closes behind him represents Young Goodman’s decent into the unconscious and his loss of innocence. On this journey he soon meets a man who is a condensation of several different factors. The man represents the devil, as well as Brown unconscious mind.
We wonder what this great evil could be that makes evil itself tremble. Another personification used is ‘candle writing’. Candles are usually associated with gothic stories, as it is only a small source of light. within the vast darkness of the room.
The main focus of the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the triumph of evil over good. A supposedly good man is tempted by evil and allows himself to be converted into a man of evil. This is much like the situation that arises in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, where two people are tempted to sin and give in thus submitting themselves to the power of the devil. In this novel, the area where the devil resides is strictly parallel to that in “Young Goodman Brown”.
Goodman is surprised with the people he meets up with on his journey. Goodman Brown meeting Goody Cloyse in the woods shows that he was starting to lose his faith, because she had taught him his catechism. After that meeting Goodman Brown tries to maintain his faith when he meets the town minister and the deacon. After meeting the two men you could tell his faith had weakened,
Why are the characters in this literary work good symbols for the problem or ill?
The story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates is about a fifteen year old girl named Connie who has a strange encounter with a man named Arnold Friend. I agree with Joyce M. Wegs' interpretation of the story, that Arnold is symbolic of Satan.
“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, delves into the classic battle between good and evil; taking the protagonist, Goodman Brown, on a journey to test the resolve of his faith. Goodman ventures out on his expedition deep into the sinister forest, in order to repudiate the attempt of the devil to sway him from Christianity; a test he believes his devout faith is prepared to confront. Goodman Brown is forever altered in ways unforeseeable by taking a stroll with the ultimate antagonist, the devil himself. The prevailing theme in this literary work, which is common in Hawthorne’s gothic writing, is the realization that evil can infect people who seem perfectly respectable. Throughout the course of his journey, Goodman Brown discovers that even highly reputable people of Salem are vulnerable to the forces of darkness.
The Stephen King’s short story, “The Reaper’s Image,” is considered by many to be one of the best pieces of American Gothic Literature. The story is centered around a mysterious, rare mirror called The Delver Glass. Sometimes, when people look into it, they see a haunting reaper. All who see it run away and mysteriously disappear. Its dark, bleak setting, supernatural events, and psychological torment makes the story a classic in the genre.
Young Goodman Brown goes from being overly trusting to becoming a paranoid, untrusting man. Once Goodman Brown arrives at the destination and walks with the stranger, they start talking about Goodman Brown's family and how they had traveled down the very same road he is now, however Goodman Brown refuses to believe the traveler: “‘I marvel they never spoke of these matters. Or, verily, I marvel not, […] We are people of prayer” (621). Goodman Brown says he “marvels” at what the stranger has said and insists that his family is a family of prayer and holiness. He later says that he “marvels not’ expressing his disbelief ion the strangers statement. Young Goodman Brown's faith in his religion and that his family are loyal to his religion lead Goodman Brown to believe that they can do no wrong. He has this same reaction when he sees the minister and deacon of his village in the woods, discussing the meeting they are going to: “'besides several Indian powows, who, after their fashion, know almost as much deviltry as the best of us’ […] Young Goodman Brown caught hold of a tree for suppo...
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown,” the author uses danger and mystery to represent the struggle of good versus evil. Young Goodman Brown journeys into the night and comes to realize an unforgiving truth. Everyone is in danger of abandoning their faith or is inherently evil. Nathaniel Hawthorne has filled this story symbolism, after reading this story the reader may have questions about Young Goodman Browns’ determination to journey towards his evil purpose. Nathaniel Hawthorne implies strong faith can endure but when that faith is destroyed, what view does a person have towards mankind? Let us take a look at Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of significant symbols throughout “Young Goodman Brown.”
One of these characters was young goodman browns wife Faith, who plays a big part in the fable. She wears pink ribbons which symbolize innocence and purity, “letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap”(Young Goodman Brown). He loves faith very much from her pink ribbons to her entire persona, “she’s a blessed angle on earth;and after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven”(Young Goodman Brown). The ability for him to compare her to an angel, truly shows his admiration and zeal he has for his wife. Another character we are introduced to is a mysterious man that leads young goodman brown in his journey to the dark forest , “beheld the figure of a man , in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree”. This man is presented as a helpful guide to goodman brown, but later in the story we see that he had bad intentions for him. He had a snake staff which resembles the story in the bible when the devil (masquerading as a snake) told Adam and eve to eat from the tree of life,”his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake”. It has similarity, because the devil led them to do something bad and in young goodman brown he is leading goodman to the evil forest. Which means his travel guide is the devil and young goodman brown does not