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Reflection on young goodman brown story
Reflection on young goodman brown story
Reflection on young goodman brown story
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Young Goodman Brown Goodman Brown's actions in the story, Young Goodman Brown, are a key element to this story's theme. The author uses Goodman Brown's movement in and out of the forest, as a method of symbolizing the theme of a symbolic journey into the depths of consciousness. As the hours of the night pass, Goodman Brown travels farther into the forest, and deeper into the depths of consciousness. This theme is present in many passages of the text. The story begins with the line, "Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street of Salem village; but put his head back, after crossing the threshold, to exchang a parting kiss with his young wife,". At this point of the story, there partial daylight and Goodman Brown is consciously aware of his trust in his wife, Faith, his faith in his religion. He says to his wife, "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, must needs be done 'twixt now and sunrise,". Goodman Brown feels that something inside him needs to go on this journey. There is a reason why he consciously feels like he has to go; he needs to test the perceptions he has of his life. By leaving at sunset, Goodman Brown is going into the darkness; the light is gone, and the night represents unsafety. The night allows Goodman Brown to sink deeper into the depths of his conscience, causing his mind to be less alert; thus, representing the unsafety. He is willing to accept this unsafety, however, in order to test his perceptions. In order to clear his conscience, he must take this journry, which can occur only on this very night. The road Goodman Brown takes into the forest is, "darkened by all the gloomiest tre... ... middle of paper ... ...ce is no longer in tact. He can no longer trust his wife or his religious community. He doesn't know if what he has experienced was real, or a figment of his imagination. He feels that he can never be consciously aware of anything again, and he "was borne to his grave, a hoary corpse,". In this story, Goodman Brown's journey in and out of the forest represents a symbolic journey into the depths of consciousness. His entrance into the forest signifies an entrance into his own thoughts and conscience. As he sinks deeper into both, they become more complex. The devil causes Goodman Brown to change his perceptions on life. Goodman Brown travels through four stages of consciousness, represented by time: dusk*darkness*midnight*morning. The first three intensify, with the coming of darkness, and the last (morning) ends his journey with the arrival of light.
This example reflects the change in environment for Goodman Brown after he left the positive world of the village. He felt he was passing through an unseen multitude since he could not know if there was someone concealed by the trees. This situation makes him question: "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow" (p. 62). Goodman Brown, who wasn't aware of the existence of an evil side to the world, is being introduced to it through the natural objects in the woods, which provided a warning sign of the evil to come.
During Brown’s venture through the woods he first discovers the truth behind those and others whom he knows personally and from a distance. “Young Goodman Brown caught hold of a tree for support, being ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburdened with the heavy sickness of his heart. He looked up to the sky, doubting whether there really was a heaven above him,” (530). This particular quote is an example of Brown’s initial shock after learning of the ties these seemingly good Christian people had with evil. It is with this realization that Brown begins to doubt all he has been taught to accept as true. This also begins Brown’s struggle to accept such discoveries and to catalyze not only his faith in mankind but also his spiritual faith.
innocence. Images of the sunset and of a journey and several others appear throughout the story to amplify the theme of Young Goodman Brown.
The journey of Goodman Brown must occur because it is an essential part of his growing up and becoming an adult. Ever since his discovery of sins in the people who he has always considered to be virtuous due to their involvement with the figure of evil, he has forever lost his innocence and faith in life. Similarly, Connie, a young girl at an age of innocence, has little knowledge about the dangers lurking in the adult world; hence, she is easily convinced by people around her. The moment Connie stands behind the screen door is when she’s on the brink of leaping into a new world. Indeed, she is standing in a threshold of adulthood and finds herself surrounded by temptations. She seems to be afraid but at the same time raising her curiosity about what awaits her behind that doorway to adulthood. In the end, her innocent stage of life is over as she falls into the grasp of Arnold
Hawthorne skillfully uses Goodman Brown’s wife’s name, Faith, as a symbol of Goodman Brown’s strong faith when Brown’s reassuring response to Faith imply that his faith cannot be weakened: “Amen!’ cried Goodman Brown, “Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee” (Hawthorne 22). Brown leaves Faith; whom he describes as a “blessed angel on earth,” and journeys to the forest (Hawthorne 22). Taking the dark, dreary road into the forest symbolizes his act of jumping into the path leading to despair. The forest represents sin, and the evil grows stronger and stronger as Goodman walks further into the
Young Goodman Brown is about a young, newly wedded man who leaves his wife, Faith, and to go on a journey into the forest one night. Young Goodman Brown has an innocent and maybe even naïve soul and was looked upon by townspeople as a “silly fellow” (Hawthorne 83). He is accompanied by a mysterious, older man who is later on revealed to be the devil. As they are walking, Young Goodman Brown tries to turn back several times and at one point succeeds in getting rid of the devil. However, when he sees that even his wife has surrendered to the same evil path that he was on, he stops resisting and continues into the forest. He ends up at a witches’ sabbath where he sees familiar faces of people whom he previously looked up to for spiritual guidance; he also finds Faith there and becomes devastated. In the end, he cries out to resist the devil and then wakes up to find himself alone in the forest.
...to the woods transforms him from an overly trusting, naïve man into a cynical, and corrupted man. Before his life changing journey, goodman Brown is unknowing of all the sin that goes on around him. He believes that everyone he knows is perfect and without sin. This changes when he takes a trip through the forest. His eyes are opened in a sense, but maybe too wide. Goodman Brown becomes paranoid about everyone in the village including his wife, Faith. He also becomes corrupted and unable to focus on his religious activities that he has always done before. Fundamentally, faith is something that Brown gave away freely to anyone but, rather, should be given moderately.
Taking this path that closes behind him represents Young Goodman’s decent into the unconscious and his loss of innocence. On this journey he soon meets a man who is a condensation of several different factors. The man represents the devil, as well as Brown unconscious
First of all, the tale involves the common motif of a journey in quest of something. The young Goodman Brown, at the beginning of the story, takes leave of his wife, Faith, in order to journey into the woods where he keeps an appointment with the devil: "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, must needs be done 'twixt now and sunrise.”
All in All mr.brown entering the forest was one of the worst decision he made in his life. As the reuslt of entering the forest he trust was gone from everyone he knew because meeting the devil made him see everyone he encouter as evil. Futhermore he didnt trust his wife who he been married to for three months because he walked away from her as she greeted him back from the forest with open arms. Even more giving up all his faith to the devil becuase he questioned his faith from the strange thing that were taking place inside the woods. The author of goodman brown uses the people that have major influence throughout his childhood and beyond.Following that when he first met the devil he looked just like his father as he walked along his journey to evil. Young goodman brown tells a story of good vs evil as well a questioning mr.browns faith plus religious beliefs he thinks he has in the godly
First, the setting of the journey is very important to describe the tone of the story. Hawthorne describes, “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest.” (Hawthorne) The author, uses the setting, to set the tone of the story, and foreshadows that Goodman Brown is departing on an evil journey. The forest is where Goodman Brown sees a lot of sin, when he witnesses certain characters joining in on a ceremony.
Goodman Brown does not emerge from the forest tougher or braver but hateful and spiteful because he becomes enlightened to the ways of world. He comes to terms with the reality tha...
and Goodman Brown sets forth on his journey. He is venturing into the woods to meet with the devil. This makes him feel guilty and he tries to justify the reason for his journey and lessen his guilt by saying, “ ‘After this one night I‘ll cling to her skirts and
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.
Late one night he finds himself in the middle of the woods with the Devil, on his way to a meeting of the Devil's followers. After seeing respected townsfolk at the Devil's meeting, including his minister and his wife, Faith, he loses hope in humanity and all that he had known to be true or real. Goodman Brown wakes up in his bed immediately following the Devil's meeting and wonders if what had happened was reality or simply just a dream. Despite his confusion about the events that took place, he was unable to forget what had happened and lost faith in religion and his com... ...