Differences In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

These literary works portray how differences in societal circumstances, expression, and other people can change the way a person interprets the paper. The authors offer different perspectives in order to get their points across. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the audience of the sermon is being persuaded to follow God because He is the only one who can keep a person from spending an eternity in hell. The story “Young Goodman Brown” proves how easily people are influenced by the decision of others and also includes how witchcraft was changing the faithful of that time. In comparing the two stories the reader will come to know the influence of the time era, the differences in which the characters are being approached, and the impact the clergy has on people. The stories are similar in the fact that both authors write according to the time era in which they are currently in. However, the context differs because the time periods are quite the opposite. Jonathan Edwards was writing during a “period of new religious fervor” called “The Great Awakening” (Edwards 178). In his sermon he is promoting the importance of following God. He

The reader can feel the differences of the time period in the writings of these two men. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was a sermon by a pastor used to revive people’s faith to follow God. The audience is being approached with a calm tone that required them to really pay close attention to what was being said. On the other-hand, when reading Hawthorne’s piece of work a more eerie feeling is felt because he is speaking of dealing with evil rather than good. “Young Goodman Brown” used an allegory that was used to keep the character aware of who he was being influenced by. As an author, Hawthorne makes his audience mindful of who they associate themselves with because he suggests that people may not be what their societal stature