Comparing Young Goodman Brown And The Rocking-Horse Winner

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When reading “Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and “The Rocking-Horse Winner, by D.H Lawrence, one can see that both stories are quite similar in the fact that they both deal with some sort of evil, and moral responsibility. Although both stories have similar themes, they have very different ways of describing them. The authors used theme, setting, symbolism, and genre, to create these stories. Analyzing both stories will give us a better look into what the authors were thinking when writing them.

The “Young Goodman Brown”, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, portrays the theme of evil in many ways. The most obvious evil, found in this story, was the devil, himself; however, many of the characters in the story can be seen as evil. …show more content…

Goodman Brown was scared, and symbolizes that he shall expect anything in the dark, by stating, “There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree” (Hawthorne 4), giving the reader a sense of anxiety, fear, and evil. This story is set around the time of the Salem Witch Trials, in the 17th century, which was a very dark and scary time. We know this because some of Hawthorne’s characters were real citizens of Salem during the trials.
There is also much symbolism found in this story. One example of symbolism is found in his wife, Faith. Faith is more than just his wife in this story, she is a symbol for his beliefs in the Christian faith. The evil characters in the story continually try to pull him away from her (his Christian faith), but he resists. This represents the struggle that many people of faith face – the struggle between keeping the faith or going astray. The author used the name faith as a hint to the reader that he was talking about Goodman Browns Christian

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