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Characterization in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
The plot of young goodman brown
The plot of young goodman brown
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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory. Hawthorne’s moral story is told through the perversion of a religious leader, Goodman Brown. Goodman is a Puritan minister who lets his excessive pride interfere with his relations with the community after he meets with the devil. The result is that Goodman lives the rest of his life in exile within his own community. "Young Goodman Brown" begins when Faith, Brown's wife, asks him not to go on an "errand". Goodman Brown says to his "love and (my) Faith" that "this one night I must tarry away from thee." When he says his "love" and his "Faith", he is talking to his wife, but he is also talking to his "faith" to God. He is venturing into the woods to meet with the Devil, and by doing so, he leaves his unquestionable faith in God with his wife. He resolves that he will "cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven." This is an example of the excessive pride because he feels that he can sin and meet with the Devil because of this promise that he made to himself. There is a tremendous irony to this promise because when Goodman Brown comes back at dawn; he can no longer look at his wife with the same faith he had before. When Goodman Brown finally meets with the Devil, he declares that the reason he was late was because "Faith kept me back awhile." This statement has a double meaning because his wife physically prevented him from being on time for his meeting with the devil, but his faith to God psychologically delayed his meeting with the devil. The Devil had with him a staff that "bore the likeness of a great black snake". The staff which looked like a snake is a reference to the snake in the story of Adam and Eve. The snake led Adam and Eve to their destruction by leading them to the Tree of Knowledge. The Adam and Eve story is similar to Goodman Brown in that they are both seeking unfathomable amounts of knowledge. Once Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge they were expelled from their paradise. The Devil's staff eventually leads Goodman Brown to the Devil's ceremony which destroys Goodman Brown's faith in his fellow man, therefore expelling him from his utopia.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s allegorical story “Young Goodman Brown” is set in Salem, Massachusetts during the late sixteen hundreds in a time of religious hysteria and only a few generations after the infamous witch trials. Although "Young Goodman Brown" is a fictional tale, it is based on the cynical environment of Salem during this time period. The short story is filled with many literary elements, leading you to question what did exactly happen to the main character at the conclusion. When analyzing a story like "Young Goodman Brown", one must recognize that the story is at whole symbolic. In the text, symbols are used to uncover the truth of the characters. The role of Faith as both a character and a spiritual element are crucial to both the story and the character of Young Goodman Brown.
The biggest symbol in Young Goodman Brown is the idea of faith. Before he goes on his “errand,” he is talking to his wife, promising he will come back, but in actuality he is talking to his faith, as in religion. He subconsciously knows he is going against his faith on this errand, but will return. “My love and my Faith,” replied young Goodman Brown, “of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again…” When Brown says later in the story “I am losing my Faith”, he is not only about his wife, (which is shown through her pink ribbon in the tree), but more about his religion, which is flashing before his eyes. This errand was a test of Goodman Brown’s faith. When Brown hears people singing hymns in swears, it is a symbol of the corruption of the church. The name Goodman Brown I think is very ironic. Is he a good man after this errand?
Symbolism in “Young Goodman Brown” is not discrete. This makes analysis of this piece seemingly simple. We can observe the various roles that Goodman’s wife, Faith, holds in the story. In “Young Goodman Brown” Faith holds the major roles of purity and protection as Goodman embarks on his journey through the wilderness.
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
Young Goodman Brown goes from being overly trusting to becoming a paranoid, untrusting man. Once Goodman Brown arrives at the destination and walks with the stranger, they start talking about Goodman Brown's family and how they had traveled down the very same road he is now, however Goodman Brown refuses to believe the traveler: “‘I marvel they never spoke of these matters. Or, verily, I marvel not, […] We are people of prayer” (621). Goodman Brown says he “marvels” at what the stranger has said and insists that his family is a family of prayer and holiness. He later says that he “marvels not’ expressing his disbelief ion the strangers statement. Young Goodman Brown's faith in his religion and that his family are loyal to his religion lead Goodman Brown to believe that they can do no wrong. He has this same reaction when he sees the minister and deacon of his village in the woods, discussing the meeting they are going to: “'besides several Indian powows, who, after their fashion, know almost as much deviltry as the best of us’ […] Young Goodman Brown caught hold of a tree for suppo...
...dman Brown cries out “My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth and sin is but a name. Come devil! For to thee is this world given”(cite). This where he begins to believe there is only sin in the world and his faith in humanity is completely destroyed. He still vows to stand firm against the devil, however he has doubts that heaven exists at all. With his loss of humanity he can no longer look at his fellow neighbors, which he had once held with high esteem, he now views as sinful and hypocritical. The faith that did shine in his heart the darkness of the world has tainted the idea that life is good and pure. Goodman Brown is completely consumed by his doubts and he is a distrustful and unable to have any sympathy or love to others. He never recovers his faith and even after death his family had nothing to say good about him, “for his dying hour was gloom”(cite).
The Electoral College is the name for the electors who nominally choose the president and vice president of the United States. Each of the states receives a certain number of electors, which is determined by the total number of senators and representatives it sends to the U.S. Congress. Therefore, each state has at least 3 electors. The Electoral College was devised by the Framers of the Constitution as a procedure to elect the president by the people, at least indirectly. The framers came up with this procedure for many reasons. Such reasons included the lack of information to make a good choice by the people and it was also a way to control the power of the people. Although the Electoral College is still used today, it has undergone several changes and still contains certain weaknesses.
Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism throughout his short story Young Goodman Brown to impact and clarify the theme of good people sometimes doing bad things. Hawthorne uses a variety of light and dark imagery, names, and people to illustrate irony and different translations. Young Goodman Brown is a story about a man who comes to terms with the reality that people are imperfect and flawed and then dies a bitter death from the enlightenment of his journey through the woods. Images of darkness, symbolic representations of names and people and the journey through the woods all attribute to Hawthorne's theme of good people sometimes doing bad things.
Basketball has been around for 118 years. It has evolved so much. I bet Naismith never thought that something so simple would change the world. Basketball has even changed lives, by reaching out to other countries, and all kinds of charities. For some people basketball is life, and it has even saved lives. A lot of players in the NBA have come from nothing, but since they excelled in basketball all their biggest dreams have come true. Basketball can even help you escape from all your troubles and worries. You can ask any player what it is like to step on a basketball court and I bet they will tell you it’s the best feeling in the world. Basketball really is more than a game, it’s a way of life.
In the beginning, there were originally six teams that was formed in the professional league. This would later change and have the National Basketball Association form in 1946. The team that was popular to many people back in the early stages of the formation of the NBA was the Boston Celtics and they wanted to immediately sign players. In 1950, Earl Lloyd would be the first African American to play in the NBA. “Mr. Lloyd was the first of the three to play in a game, when the Capitols opened the season on Oct. 31, 1950, in Rochester, N.Y., against the Rochester Royals”(Washingtonpost.com). The first African American women did not play until 1985 since there wasn’t a professinal league until the 80s and 90s hit. “In 1985, Lynette Woodard became the first woman to play for the Globetrotters”(aaregistry.org). Although there were other leagues that women play back in the early ages of the 1900s but professionally Lynette Woodard would be the first African American to play in a professional league. We can all look back and see that Earl Lloyd and Lynette Woodard showed history in it’s making that he is one of the reason on showing people that discrimination in race doesn’t matter in
The sport basketball was created in 1981 and has grown to be one of the most popular sports to be played worldwide. To think that this life altering activity was thought of by only one man, Dr. James Naismith, a Physical Instructor at the YMCA Training school. Which was in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith was under the instructions of the head physical education board when he had the brilliant idea. He was given an enduring two weeks to come up with an indoor game that would give an “athletic distraction” for a jumpy class to participate in through the harsh winter approaching them. All he had was his own mind and a small indoor space to some how create a new game to be played. Naismith succeeded and his creation is now a big time sport played by millions all around the world.
Organic has long since been a highly accredited term for food. To be organic is to be pure, natural, and above the dirty industrial system that food production has become. This definition however has become tainted. The truth is that organic foods are anything but healthier. In Michael Pollan’s research book The Omnivore’s Dilemma the validity of organic foods are discredited. Pollan argues about organic food, as it is misleading consumers.
Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith. The original game in which James Naismith created was much different than today’s version of Basketball. James Naismith put his class into 2 teams each which on a team was 9 kids in which each team’s goal was to get the basketball in the fruit basket. For Naismith and his new game basketball it was just the beginning. After a year basketball was first played in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1892. After time passed basketball was becoming advanced with new metal hoops also attachments like nets and backboards. It wasn’t the old fruit basket game anymore it got so advanced that in 1946 specifically June 6, 1946 basketball had its own league the BAA (Basketball Association of America) later changed to NBA (National Basketball Association in 1949. Until this point in time where basketball got its own league, basketball was played in colleges, schools, and for fun. Some of the colleges that used basketball as a school sport was Yale University, Geneva College, Hamline University and so much more universiti...
Basketball was developed by Canadian physical education college director James Naismith. The sport was created for the sole purpose of being a winter sport because it was too cold to play baseball or football outside, This port originated at the YMCA training school in Springfield Massachusetts, 1891. The first official game was played in the YMCA gymnasium in Albany, New York on January 20, 1892, with just 9 players. Since 1891 the original game was played with peach baskets (that were then later replaced by heavy woven wire rims)and a soccer ball. Years later backboards were introduced, team sizes were reduced, basketballs were manufactured, skills were brought into the game as well as a variety of rules such as scoring, timing, fouls, passing
The first game where players were played to play took place on 11/7/1896 at the Masonic Temple, in downtown Trenton. From there leagues where players were paid to play began to develop. Comprised of 11 teams the Basketball Association of America (BAA) became the first pro league in 1946. The first pro NBA finals took place in 1947. The BAA became the NBA, National Basketball Association, in 1949. Reaching the NBA is the dream of basketball players because only the best play in the NBA.