“Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “Young Goodman Brown”:
Change and Loss of Innocence Innocence can take many shapes. A young and innocent child, a woman who is innocently blind to the ways of sneaky salesmen, an elderly man who is innocent to, and unaware of the bad-doings that are going on around him. Innocence is also easily taken away, yet impossible to get back. Some go their whole lives, naïve to many things, while most get that innocence stolen; whether it is through merely growing up, through misguided choices, or simply by luck. Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” centers on the theme of change, which relates directly to of loss of innocence. In the short story, "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character Goodman
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Following the same rhythm and syntax of its preceding and succeeding lines, the line “So Eden sank to grief” is tied into those lines’ depiction of natural transformation and growth. (Poetry for Students)
Having innocence is often thought of as synonymous to being young, or youthful. “As the leaf grows, it loses its green delicateness, its youthful qualities. It is the youthful characteristics that are hardest to hold,” (Doyle) and since youthfulness and innocence go hand in hand, it only makes sense that being delicate and innocent are the hardest traits to keep as one matures. Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” also depicts a change that results in a loss of innocence, however these changes aren’t inherent, Goodman makes decisions for himself that lead to his undesirable realization of evil. He makes the transformation from curious, trusting and inexperienced, to depraved and in a way, worldly, in just one night’s trip into the forest:
Its hero, a naïve young man who accepts both society in general and his fellow-men as individuals at their own valuation, is in one terrible night presented with the vision of human Evil, and is ever afterwards “A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man . . .” whose “dying hour was gloom.” (Fogle
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“Nothing Gold Can Stay” does not state anything about loss of innocence, however that meaning can be pulled from way Frost constructed the poem to be a “depiction of natural transformation and growth” (“Nothing” 205). “Young Goodman Brown” is about a Puritan man’s choice to meet with the Devil, which in turn changes him forever, “Goodman Brown does not become aware of his own kinship with evil; he does not see the sinfulness in himself but only in others . . . He has lost not only faith in his fellow men but his compassion for them,” (Hurley 124). The importance of religion in “Young Goodman Brown” stems from the setting, and the main characters thoughts and ideals of being a “good
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
"All things truly wicked start from an innocence,” states Ernest Hemingway on his view of innocence. Innocence, what every youth possesses, is more accurately described as a state of unknowing but not ignorance- which connotation suggests a blissfully positive view of the world. Most youth are protected from the harsh realities of the adult world. Therefore they are able to maintain their state of innocence. While innocence normally wanes over time, sometimes innocence can be abruptly taken away. Some of the characters in Truman Capotes In Cold Blood lost their innocence due to the traumatic events they experienced in childhood and adulthood while some had none to begin with.
McCabe, Michael E. “The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical Context for Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”.”
Innocence is a time when a person has never done something, it is the first step of the theme of innocence to experience. The second step in the movement from innocence to experience, is experience. This step is what is achieved after a person or thing has done something they have never done before or learns something they have never know before. The theme of growth from innocence to experience occurs many times in the first part of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. This process is one of the central themes in the first eleven chapters of this book, because it shows how Scout and Jem change and mature.
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.
The loss of innocence is an occurrence that happens in every life, and it is so easily taken. A traumatic moment is often the thief of innocence, leaving the victim scarred from the experience. Events like these are often the process of paving the road into adulthood, and aid in the metamorphosis of a child to an adult. In “My Father’s Noose” by Grace Talusan, “Dothead” by Amit Majmudar, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, each of the characters do not understand the concept of negligent personages. Once the protagonist knows that society is not composed of perfect people, their character and personality changes, as it forces them to take a look at their own morals. This prepares the protagonist for the lives
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.
Growing up is a natural part of life. Everyone grows up. The loss of childish innocence and blind faith in what is said is one chief mark of growing up. Loss of innocence, however, presents itself in many forms, even to adults, and with it brings a greater understanding of the world at large. In literature, authors use the process to explore society and humanity. Through the characters’ loss of innocence, the authors of both To Kill A Mockingbird and Of Mice & Men discuss ideas of prejudice, family, and courage.
It is impossible to fairly analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Young Goodman Brown" around a single literary approach. American novelist, essayist, and poet, Herman Melville, once wrote about Hawthorn's short story that it over time, like wine, it only improves in flavor and body (The Life and Works of Herman Melville). Hawthorne's short story continues to get better with age, and carries today's readers into a world filled with a plethora of meanings for them to pick from its symbolism. Modern readers have interpreted the meaning of Goodman Brown's experience in many ways, but to pigeon hole the story into one view would destroy its veracity.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, Young Goodman Brown, Brown goes on a journey through the forest that drastically changes him. While we never know the real reason why Brown went to the forest, the experience in the forest caused him to become a bitter, sad, and lonely man who couldn't look at life the same after that night. There were many events that occurred in the forest that caused this change in him.
“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, delves into the classic battle between good and evil; taking the protagonist, Goodman Brown, on a journey to test the resolve of his faith. Goodman ventures out on his expedition deep into the sinister forest, in order to repudiate the attempt of the devil to sway him from Christianity; a test he believes his devout faith is prepared to confront. Goodman Brown is forever altered in ways unforeseeable by taking a stroll with the ultimate antagonist, the devil himself. The prevailing theme in this literary work, which is common in Hawthorne’s gothic writing, is the realization that evil can infect people who seem perfectly respectable. Throughout the course of his journey, Goodman Brown discovers that even highly reputable people of Salem are vulnerable to the forces of darkness.
Innocence traditionally comes into mind with the idea of children; however, innocence can be easily lost, even in early childhood, through an outside negative influence. Similarly, in this eerie excerpt from Turn of the Screw, Henry James manipulates weather imagery with symbolism of silence and candles to display Mile’s corruption of innocence that occurs from the governess’s forceful behavior upon him. In the beginning of this paragraph, it is evident that the governess’s vigorous questioning and pleading provokes Miles to remain silent and grasp his last bit of innocence. The governess’s strong curiosity for wanting to discover “what happened before” Miles got expelled and the repetition of her questions causes the governess to come off as a threat to him.
When reading the two poems the reader can easily see that as a child the speaker was carefree, innocent, and oblivious to the outside world. As an adult the speaker realizes that the world is a different place. The speaker carefree innocence has now been corrupted. William Blake uses imagery, tone, and diction to validate his theme of man being born innocent and is corrupted through
Upon reading William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, a certain parallel is easily discerned between them and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Blake, considered a radical thinker in his time, is today thought to be an important and seminal figure in the literature of the Romantic period. Being such a figure he has no doubt helped to influence many great thinkers throughout history, one of whom I believe is Carroll. There are many instances throughout Carroll’s story where comparable concepts of innocence and adulthood are evident. Through its themes of romanticism, Carroll crafts a story that is anti-didactic by its very nature.
The Song of Innocence and Experience is a collection of poems written by William Blake. “Innocence” and “Experience” are two definitions of consciousness that rethink John Milton’s existential-mythic states of “Paradise” and the “Fall”, this coincides with the romantic notion that adolescence is a state of protected innocence instead of original sin and yet is still not immune to the fallen world and its institutions.