A Crisis of Faith in Salvation, by Langston Hughes and Young Goodman Brown, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

In �Salvation� by Langston Hughes and �Young Goodman Brown� by Nathaniel Hawthorne there is a crisis of faith was present in both stories. Although both of the stories are very similar, they also are very different, too. In both stories, the main character experiences a loss of innocence through a faith crisis. The outcome of the loss of innocence in �Young Goodman Brown� was both positive and negative and in �Salvation� entirely negative. The faith crisis affected the way Goodman Brown and Langston reacted to their experience. The crisis of faith in �Young Goodman Brown� and �Salvation� was due to the outcome and the factors that influence the loss of innocence. In �Young Goodman Brown� the loss of innocence was due to the loss of faith and realization, therefore, the outcome was both positive and negative, in contrary, the loss of innocence in Salvation� was due to the loss of faith and social pressure, and the outcome was entirely negative.

In �Young Goodman Brown� the lost of innocence was due to the loss of faith and realization. During his experience in the forest, Goodman Brown saw people that he thought were holy people but were not. The people of his town were not the people he thought they were. The minister and the deacon was the last two people anyone would consider to be unholy but they are not living a holy life. When Goodman Brown sees the people of his community that he looks up to and respects participating in the devil�s work, he does not know what the think or how to feel. Goodman Brown �caught hold of a tree for support, being ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburdened with the heavy sickness of his heart. He looked up to the sky, doubting whether there really was a heav...

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...oss of innocence determined the outcome of the lost of innocence. The outcome was both positive and negative in �Young Goodman Brown� and entirely negative in �Salvation�. The crisis of faith in �Young Goodman Brown� and Salvation� was due to the outcome and the factors that influence the loss of innocence. Goodman Brown loss of innocence was due to faith and realization. In contrast, Langston loss of innocence was due to faith and social pressures. Goodman Brown and Langston learned first hand that things are not always as they appear.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. �Young Goodman Brown.� Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston, 2003. 161-171.

Hughes, Langston. �Salvation.� Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston, 2003. 330-331