What Is Brown's Perception Of Reality In Young Goodman Brown

In the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there is evidence in the text that gives us reason to believe that Young Goodman Brown could be dreaming. Mr. Brown is a puritan, and this religious belief was practiced during the late fifteen-hundreds and early sixteen-hundreds. Back then, there were no doctors to study the phases of sleep, so puritans very well could have mistaken many of their REM phases of sleep for reality. In the story, Mr. Brown’s perception of reality is equivalent to that of a dream because he hears voices, sees unordinary things, and, in theory, loses his mind.
Young Goodman Brown hears quite a few abstract voices and noises that one would not normally hear in the woods at night. ‘’”Faith!” shouted Goodman Brown in a voice of agony and desperation; and the echoes of the forest mocked him, crying “Faith! Faith!” as if bewildered wretches were seeking her all through the wilderness.”’ (298). Mr. Brown cannot make out these voices simply because they are not real. “There was a scream, drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices fading into far-off laughter. . .” (298). In Mr. Brown’s Godly mind, these voices may be some of his biggest fears as a Puritan; witches or the Devil himself accompanied by his demons. “The whole forest was peopled with frightful

sounds—the creaking of the trees, the howling of wild beasts. . .” (298).
Dark clouds quickly rolling in and out of Mr.

Brown’s sight is rather unordinary. “The blue sky was still visible except directly overhead, where this black mass of cloud was sweeping swiftly northward” (297). Along with Young Goodman Brown’s unusual sightings, he is now hearing voices similar to the ones he heard calling for his wife, except this time the voices are coming from the clouds. “Then came a stronger swell of those familiar tones heard daily in the sunshine at Salem village, but never, until now, from a cloud at night” (297). Mr. Brown once again cannot clearly distinguish the voices or the noises but as his fears get the best of him, he starts to

panic.
‘”Ha! ha! ha!” . . . “Let us hear which will laugh loudest! Think not to frighten me with your deviltry! come witch, come wizard, come Indian powwow, come devil himself! and here comes Goodman Brown. You may as well fear him as he fear you!”’ (298). Goodman Brown himself was most feared in the forest at this time. As a Puritan, Mr. Brown was raised to believe and still believes that witches are evil. He clearly is in fear for his life, but he assumes that laughing about it and being loud will knock the edge off. After Young Goodman Brown shouts into the forest, Hawthorne tells us that Mr. Brown flies. “On he flew among the black pines. . .” (298). It is physically impossible for a human to fly.
Mr. Brown can be perceived to be taking part in his own lucid dream, meaning he can control his dream, but his fears can also play a big role in the dream. Since this story takes place in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, Mr. Brown does not realize he is dreaming. Once his fears got the best of them, his mind resorted to flying away which is the quickest means of travel. “. . . the dark cloud swept away leaving the clear and silent sky above Goodman Brown” (298).

Works cited
Hawthorne, N. (1835). “Young Goodman Brown.” Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Eds. Greg Johnson and Thomas R. Arp. Stamford: Ceng