“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...
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...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.
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...
Upon close examination of the story “Young Goodman Brown” one might notice that Goodman Brown had stored his faith in three places; in his neighbors, in his wife, and in his personal experiences. The placement of Goodman Brown’s faith with his neighbors is the first...
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
Lang, H.J.. “How Ambiguous Is Hawthorne.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
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
“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
In "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne, through the use of deceptive imagery, creates a sense of uncertainty that illuminates the theme of man's inability to operate within a framework of moral absolutism. Within every man there is an innate difference between good and evil and Hawthorne's deliberate use of ambiguity mirrors this complexity of human nature. Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, is misled by believing in the perfectibility of humanity and in the existence of moral absolutes. According to Nancy Bunge, Hawthorne naturally centers his story upon a Puritan protagonist to convey the "self-righteous" that he regards as the "antithesis of wisdom"(4). Consequently, Young Goodman Brown is unable to accept the indefinable vision of betrayal and evil that he encounters in the forest. The uncertainty of this vision, enhanced by Hawthorne's deliberate, yet effective, use of ambiguity, is also seen in the character of Faith, the shadows and darkness of the forest, and the undetectable boundaries that separate nightmarish dreams from reality.
“Young Goodman Brown” believed he found his salvation. This is not the actual way to
As stated earlier, Hawthorne’s goal is to show the discovery of evil can lead one to utter desperation and cynicism. Brown is the medium through which he is able to achieve this goal. He is successful in teaching his audience a moral lesson; which is that in denying the idea that good exists and is capable of overpowering evil, Brown has committed the worst sin of all. Bereft of spiritual faith, “his dying hour was gloom” (2216).
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.
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.
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.
Comparing The Elements of Style by Strunk and White and Style Toward Clarity and Grace by Williams