Comparing Fall of the House of Usher, Young Goodman Brown, and Rip Van Winkle

Comparing Fall of the House of Usher, Young Goodman Brown, and Rip Van Winkle

In the early eighteen hundreds, literature in the Americas started a revolution of style in upcoming authors. Authors started to look towards nature for symbolism and society as a source of sin. The underlined meaning in most of these stories was meant to leave the reader with a new perspective of their personal lives and society as a whole. Three stories that use this particular technique are Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Edgar Allen Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher," and Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle.

"Young Goodman Brown", by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story of a man named Goodman Brown, who is of strong Puritan belief. Goodman Brown leaves his wife, Faith, to travel into the depths of the woods one dark night led by a stranger. Goodman Brown is led to some secret meeting in the woods, where some of his fellow villagers are present. At this point in the story Goodman brown discovers that he is about to unravel hidden parts of the villagers' lives. "This night it shall be granted to you to know their secret deeds…"(946).

Goodman Brown feels out of place and worried that his fellow Puritans would have secret hidden sins. The conflict for Goodman Brown comes in his decision whether he should join in the circle of sin and be like the rest of his village or hold true to his beliefs and reject any attempt to be persuaded. The climax of the story comes when Goodman Brown decides to stick by his religion and not to enter the circle of sin even though his wife, Faith, is a part of the sinning group. "Faith! Faith!…look up to heaven and resist the wicked one"(947). The denouement of Goodman Brown is tragic in an off beat sense. Goodma...

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.... These meanings dealt with the different aspects of live and their force of influence. These stories dealt with unexplained mysteries, imagination of characters, and the influence of nature. Each character had a certain conflict to confront or over come and each other their fates in the story explains the author's points of individual and societal problems.

Bibliography:

Hawthorne, Nathaniel,"Young Goodman Brown." Anthology of American Literautre. Ed. George McMicheal et al 2 vols. 7th ed.New York: Macmillan, 2000. Vol.1. 938-948

Irving,Washingtion."Rip Van Winkle." Anthology of American Literautre. Ed. George McMicheal et al 2 vols. 7th ed.New York: Macmillan, 2000. Vol.1. 619-632

Poe,Edgar Allen."Fall of the House of Usher." Anthology of American Literautre. Ed. George McMicheal et al 2 vols. 7th ed.New York: Macmillan, 2000. Vol.1. 763-777