The Style in “Young Goodman Brown”
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story or tale, “Young Goodman Brown,” is an interesting example of the multi-faceted style of the author, which will be discussed in this essay.
Edgar Allan Poe in “Twice-Told Tales - A Review,” which appeared in Graham's Magazine in May, 1842, comments on Hawthorne’s “originality,” and “tranquil and subdued manner” which characterize his style:
The Essays of Hawthorne have much of the character of Irving, with more of originality, and less of finish; while, compared with the Spectator, they have a vast superiority at all points. The Spectator, Mr. Irving, and Mr. Hawthorne have in common that tranquil and subdued manner which we have chosen to denominate repose. . . . In the essays before us the absence of effort is too obvious to be mistaken, and a strong undercurrent of suggestion runs continuously beneath the upper stream of the tranquil thesis. In short, these effusions of Mr. Hawthorne are the product of a truly imaginative intellect, restrained, and in some measure repressed, by fastidiousness of taste, by constitutional melancholy and by indolence.
Peter Conn in “Finding a Voice in an New Nation” discloses a characteristic of Hawthorne’s tyle with regard to his short stories: “Almost all of Hawthorne’s finest stories are remote in time or place” (82). Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale “Young Goodman Brown” is no exception to this rule, being placed in historic Salem, Massachusetts, back in the 1600’s.
Herman Melville in “Hawthorne and His Mosses,” (in The Literary World August 17, 24, 1850) has a noteworthy comment on Hawthorne’s style:
Nathaniel Hawthorne is a man, as yet, almost utterly mistaken among men. Here and there, in some quiet arm-chair in the noisy town, or some deep nook among the noiseless mountains, he may be appreciated for something of what he is. But
unlike Shakespeare, who was forced to the contrary course by circumstances, Hawthorne (either from simple disinclination, or else from inaptitude) refrains from all the popularizing noise and show of broad farce, and blood-besmeared tragedy; content with the still, rich utterances of a great intellect in repose, and which sends
few thoughts into circulation, except they be arterialized at his large warm lungs, and expanded in his honest heart.
How beautifully does this critic capture the basic attitude of Hawthorne, who avoids the “noise and show” and emphasizes his “rich utterances.
Lathrop, G. P., ed. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. Binghamton, New York: Vail-Ballou, 1962. 439-40. Print.
The style of Hawthorne is deft and effective. His examination of Pyncheons two-facedness is formatted like a courtroom interrogation with Pyncheon on the witness chair. The climatic last tirade of the narrator releases all of Hawthorne’s disgust and revulsion in a captivating fashion. The organization and attention to what the reader is expecting keep the argument subtle and critical.
Lowering the legal drinking age would create problems such as infringing on the mental and physical development of the young drinker. As a respected author, Matt Nagin puts it, “The late teens and early twenties are formative years where character building, leadership in the community, and scholastic excellence should be emphasized. Alcohol detracts from all of these.” In other words, Nagin believes that the teen years are an imperative time of growth in a person’s life. Scientists have proven that the brain is not fully developed until the age of twenty five. If Nagin’s argument is correct, and I believe it is, then people should understand that scientists have proven the negative affects that alcohol has on the development of the brain. Alcohol has the power to kill brain cells and damage growth hormones. By making alcohol legally accessible to an eighteen year old, we are literally poisoning his or her brain.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography.” The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
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.
Since ours is an age that has found irony, ambiguity, and paradox to be central not only in literature but in life, it is not surprising that Hawthorne has seemed to us one of the most modern of nineteenth century American writers. The bulk and general excellence of the great outburst of Hawthorne criticism of the past decade attest to his relevance for us (54).
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New, 2010. Print.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vol1. Ed. Nina Baym, et al. New York: Norton, 1994. 1198-1207.
Hawthorne's Personality Revealed in His Novel, The House of the Seven Gables. " At the moment of execution--with the halter about his neck, and while Colonel Pyncheon sat on horseback, grimly gazing at the scene--Maul had addressed him from the scaffold, and uttered a profecy, of which history, as well as fireside tradition, has preserved the very words.--'God,' said the dying man, pointing his finger with a ghastly look at the undismayed countenance of his enemy, 'God will give you blood to The House of the Seven Gables portrays many emotions throughout the novel. Writers express themselves through their literature, using many different traits. They write about what they know, and who better to portray than the writer himself.
In Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a man and his discovery of evil. Hawthorne’s primary concern is with evil and how it affects Young Goodman Brown. Through the use of tone and setting, Hawthorne portrays the nature of evil and the psychological effects it can have on man. He shows how discovering the existence of evil brings Brown to view the world in a cynical way. Brown learns the nature of evil and, therefore, feels surrounded by its presence constantly.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw & Hill, 1998. 272-280.
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.
Femininity symbolizing of traits, characteristics, behaviors, and way of thinking didn 't relate with any of society 's presumption of males. In an article, called Women and Femininity In U.S. Popular Culture, The change of the culture in the late 1960s in the U.S. along with others, the "angel of the house" seen as the ideal figure for women. Women have created big accomplishments in society of America over the past 10 years and in many ways, overcame men. The battle for women rights was also in between the ending of slavery. Earlier days of the country, women were forbidden from taking part in numerous events of society and professional life.
Victims of sexual assault include men, women, children, heterosexuals, and homosexuals. It can happen to anyone. However, women are the most commonly victimized. One in four women and one in sixteen men are victims of assault (1). From 2003 to 2004...
It 's ludicrously ironic now, but as child her logic made perfect sense, and I reasoned myself out of blaming her. She was right. I was wrong. She only mocked me subjected me to strange accusations and verbal cruelty, and we had always done something, anything wrong. After years of constant uncertainty, belittling, and the mounting awareness that my mother was losing her grip on ordinary behavior, I was beginning to realize that I had been afraid. Without a trusted adult telling me in a multitude of ways that everything I did was suspect and somehow bad, I regained a shred of emotional security. I fully realize how strange it is that it took me so long to realize this was a form of abuse, but anything can seem normal when you don 't know anything different. It 's now clear why I looked forward so passionately to overnight visits with friends, and why watching them interact with their mothers, easily, lovingly, and unafraid, made me feel so cold and so perplexing ly angry. I was jealous of any parent-child relationship that wasn 't rooted in fear and uncertainty. On my darker days, I still feel that twinge of envy. Today I speak to my mother only sometimes, and never in any great depth. There 's nothing below the surface that would be pleasant to