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

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