Short stories go down like ice cream, but they often leave the reader with lingering sensations. What are those sensations? What do they have to do with your experience? Is "Literature" with a capital L a more effective brand of cultural meaning-making than commercials, Twitter, or the news?
Hopefully, we'll get the ball rolling on some of these questions. Featured texts describe utopian visions, bovine rebellion, freezing to death, and school shootings (among other things).
The conflict of the short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, is man vs. self. Young Goodman Brown was a man that lived in Salem, Mass. He decided one day to go out on an errand, a journey to the woods (sign of evil during that time period). Leaving, his wife, Faith, home, he traveled out into the woods. As he was walking through the eerie woods, he ran into a man, who was oddly expecting him. This man, I believe was the devil (he was carrying a cane that looked like a serpent which is symbolism of the devil/evil). This old man, was tempting Young Goodman Brown, in different ways, through his journey. But Young Goodman Brown kept resisting the temptations given. Even though Young Brown resisted and made clear that he must stay faithful and strong for his wife faith (again, more symbolism, but this time of cleanliness/purity), the old man still tried luring him into his witchcraft ways by making Goodman experience scenarios in ways that Goodman could connect to (he knew they old woman, he saw Faith in the woods, and the old man said that he knew Goodman’s father). During the story, the old man was persistent in having Young Goodman carry his cane, Goodman kept resisting, but somehow he got a hold of it, making me believe that this was what made Goodman go insane and lose his innocence. The story makes the reader believe that this all was a dream, but Goodman really believed it happened. Because of what occurred in the woods, Young Goodman Brown lost faith in everyone, unable to trust people, including his own, innocent wife Faith and ended up ruining his life, not knowing what and who to trust. Young Goodman Brown was unable to control his thoughts, knowing what was real and what wasn’t, which lead him to lose faith, ruining his life. He even lost faith in his wife, Faith, who was a reoccurring symbol of purity and trust throughout the entire story, attempting to keep Goodman from losing his innocence and confidence in remaining pure like his wife.
What I took from the short story ‘Young Goodman Brown’ was certain things in this world are better unknown. More specifically this experience completely changed Goodman Brown’s outlook on everything forever. It changed how he viewed the minister, members of the church, his family, and even his wife. Before he went to the ceremony he really believed the minister was a true Puritan. (As anyone would believe). And once he saw the main person of his village that educated and is the leader of religion to his people at this evil ceremony it made Goodman Brown think everything was a lie. This concept goes along with Deacon Goodkin. Goodman Brown viewed him as a religious leader until he saw Deacon Goodkin following the devil. Moreover, he worshipped his father and grandfather for being true Puritans his whole life. Until the old man shot that image to the ground when he told Goodman Brown he has been with his father and his grandfather. This caused a 360 degree turn around in his life, probably leaving Goodman Brown thinking his entire life has been a lie. From all this being revealed he probably was very jaded and vulnerable he couldn’t help but run to the sound of Faith’s voice. However, she is also at this evil ceremony. And whether it was a dream or not, Goodman Brown can never look at the minister, Deacon Goodkin, Goody Cloyse, and his wife the same ever again. Basically, this whole concept changes Goodman Brown for the rest of his life. Before this experience he was a normal Puritan living happily with his wife, worshipping his religion from the minister, and proud of his father and grandfather. Once he comes back from this experience (from a dream or in a different world) he lives a terrible life not trusting anyone and scarred with this thought that everyone is evil. It’s impossible for him to forget this and live a happy life like he was before. Goodman Brown would have died a proud, happy Puritan if he did not experience this. Whether this was a dream or not I think Hawthorne is trying to tell people that some things in life are better unknown.
The Short story “Young Goodman Brown” portrayed the Puritan time period perfectly. It shows the superstition of witchcraft and how that can affect even the simplest of tasks in Salem, Massachusetts. Young Goodman Brown decided to go run an errand in the eerie woods leaving his wife, Faith, behind. Faith didn’t want him to leave because of the danger that the woods conveyed, but he insisted he had to go. Shortly after entering the woods he runs into a strange old man, who was somehow expecting him. This old man and his serpent cane (in relation to the devil) accompanied him on his journey, constantly trying to get Young Goodman to join his evil, witchcraft, ways. He does this by making his offers appealing to Goodman. He makes him see his wife, a familiar old woman, and saying he knew his father and grandfather. Eventually the cane ends up in Goodman’s hand and he began to see everyone he cared about practicing witchcraft. This led him to believe that his whole life was a lie, and he was unable to have faith in anyone, even his innocent wife. This fear and lose of trust ruined his life. Whether this event was a dream or reality, he believed that it was true to a point that left him unable to look anyone he cared about (his wife, minister, and friends) in the eyes and trust them.
While reading "Young Goodman Brown" one thing that stood out to me the most was the amount of symbolism Nathaniel Hawthorne puts into his writing. Although some of the symbolism is masked, most of it is pretty straight forward. For example, the serpent on the devils staff symbolizes the devil himself as well as a foreshadowing for temptation. In the biblical story of Adam and Eve, they are both tempted by the serpent and ultimately give into his evil ways just like Goodman Brown did when he decided to use the staff to get him to the ceremony quicker once he thought he heard Faith's voice. The fact that his wife's name is Faith is very blatant as well. The further he walks away from his wife (faith) the closer he is to evil (the devil) and although he knows he must be getting back to her, he cannot and continues to separate himself more and more due to this temptation. Faith's pink ribbons are also refereed to more than once in the story and I believe that Hawthorne does this because pink ribbons are associated with innocence (I think of a little girl when I think of pink ribbons). Faith is ultimately this figure radiating purity and innocence, but that image is corrupted once Goodman Brown sees her at the ceremony. Once he arrives at the ceremony he also sees all of his loyal church going friends and acquaintances there. He awakes to what seems like a dream but can not shake the feelings he has. I think the meaning that Nathanial Harthrorne is trying to convey may be to stay on the straight and narrow path, follow your faith, and remain strong in your faith because as soon as you stray away from it you'll be doomed do to loss of innocence and purity. This meaning seems especially relevant due to the time that this story was written, which was the Salem witch trials when everyone was accused of being a satanist if they did not live a "pure" and "moral" life"....at least to the eyes of others.
I believe a possible theme in “Young Goodman Brown” is innocence. Goodman Brown lives in the village of Salem, which is a very Christian heavy place. He leaves the village to run an errand and his wife is afraid he’ll come back a different man because of the mysteriousness of the forest. While he walks through, he sees a lot of different people. The worst part is he doesn’t know if the people are really there, or if it’s his mind playing tricks on him. But he sees all these people that he knows from the village, such as Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin, who are very respected Christians, going to some sort of ceremony. It’s revealed that it’s an evil devil forest ceremony and that most of the town will be there. Goodman becomes immediately frightened and keeps saying that he wants to return to Salem, but he goes on anyways just to check it out. Once he gets there, he looks for his wife, Faith, hoping she’s not in attendance. He later finds out that she is there and that she is a “convert”, meaning she now wants to praise the devil. After seeing all of this, Goodman Brown has changed feelings about everyone in town, including Faith, and can no longer trust anyone because he is fearful of the other villagers. The innocence in all of this is in Goodman Brown. He chose to go do the errand; he chose to keep going to the ceremony, even though he had more than enough evidence to leave. But because he was so curious, he decided to go and now sees everything differently. Now, he doesn’t know how to react. How could such kind and religious people go to an evil witch ceremony to worship the devil? The one thing that could’ve saved Brown was that if he knew if it was all a dream or not. But it didn’t matter. His innocence was easily corrupted, and now he believes that he can’t go to or trust anyone, not even his wife.
I had trouble understanding “Young Goodman Brown” when I first read it. I wasn’t until I reread the short story that I fully understood plot. I consider Goodman Brown to be ignorant towards the evil spirits that surround him. He doesn’t not want to admit these evils and tells the old man that his he come from a good family. Goodman’s last hope is that his wife at home safe and she has not turned evil. Goodman realizes that his minister, deacon, and his own family have partnered with the devil. Goodman doesn’t not know if he experience in the woods was a dream or a reality. This confusion the author created makes for a great story. Goodman life has changed for the worst because of this encounter. The ending to the story was very sad. It is disturbing because now Goodman Brown doesn’t trust his peers and he even disowns his wife.
The short story, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, represented the typical puritan life we see in books like The Crucible. All Puritan stories and books show their relationship between faith and witchcraft. Those two topics are the things that give the puritans there fame. The way I interpreted this short story is that even though Goodman Brown was no longer a child he still experienced a loss of innocence. He had chosen to go into the forest to run an earned, but ideally to meet with the devil. I believe he was the cause of his own loss of innocence. Throughout the story he doesn’t know if he is dreaming about the devil in the forest, or experiencing the devil in real life. Even if he is dreaming about it.. who dreams about that. Goodman Brown chose to walk away from “Faith”, his wife and also from his religious faith. When he kept going farther and farther away from faith (his wife) but symbolizing hi religious faith, his life became less pure and innocent. The puritans say that when you lose your faith you no longer good, that you are corrupted. I take this as him losing his innocence. When Goodman Brown realized that most of his friends and family were practicing witchcraft, was what kept him from returning home. This kept him from Faith his wife which would have kept him sane. After Goodman brown decided his whole life was a lie that’s when he realized his own innocence was lost.
The short story “Young Goodman Brown” was actually kind of confusing for me to follow. I was able to pick up certain symbols and connections all throughout the time I was reading however, at the end of the story I was unable to tell if it was a dream or if it had really happened. The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts which automatically makes me think of the Salem witch trials. Soon after, I found the first connection to the witch trials to be Goodman Brown going into the woods. This reminded me of The Crucible and how the girls got reprimanded for playing in the woods because they are believed to be evil. While travelling through the woods, he ran into a man with a serpent cane. This led me to believe it was a symbol for the devil because of the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve, proving that the woods are an evil place. He leaves his wife whose name is coincidentally “Faith” and leaves her to be alone. Goodman Brown eventually sees others he knows including his wife and they appear to be worshipping the devil. He continues to move forward toward this ceremony even though he knows he should not. This is when Goodman Brown is changed. His thoughts and opinions of the others are completely flipped and he does not know whether or not he can trust them. He then wakes up from what appears to have been a dream and cannot tell if it was reality or not. I think one of the main points the author is trying to get across is that if you stay on the right path towards your faith, everything will go as you expect it will. However, once you consciously choose to make poor decisions against your faith, it will come back to haunt you and have an impact on you the rest of your life.
The short story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the struggle of Young Goodman Brown of good versus the bad and innocence being corrupted. In the beginning of the story he believes in the good people in his life and people in his town but when he starts to see people from his community in the jungle his perception starts to change. At first he believes Faith is good and pure but he sees her at the witch ceremony he loses trust in Faith and starts to question whether anyone in his life has been a good person such as his father or grandfather. There is not much that I understood about this short story, however, I believe that Young Goodman Brown is experiencing some sort of hallucinations or a dream that has a heavy impact on him. I don’t understand why he chooses to leave his peaceful home and Faith to go venture in the woods at night. His decision and what he experience has a heavy impact on him and left him to wonder if he was making the right judgement about the people in his life. This story also depicts the lifestyle of the puritans and how they were always suspicious of even the closest people to them. These thought brought many problems within in their community and everyone was unable to trust each other.
I think this story shows a conflict between trust vs. mistrust. After meeting the strange man (the devil) in the eerie woods while completing an errand, this seems to become an issue in Goodman Brown's life. He starts to question his relationships with the people in his life whom he thought he had a good relationship with. This makes sense to be confused and not know what to think seeing as trust vs. mistrust is a developmental milestone that occurs as an infant. You begin to learn who you can trust and makes a child feel safe in the world. If Goodman Brown had already completed this stage and continued on the other milestones this would be a huge issue for him. After his journey and returning back home he feels he cannot trust anyone and thinks that everyone is evil. Goodman Brown's life was turned upside down and did not know how to respond to others. This even made him lose trust and faith. This may or may not have been a dream, but Brown believed it was true enough to the point that it changed his whole mind set and was unable to look at anyone that he cared about in the same way.
The short story "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthrone shows how one event can change the way people think and who they trust. When walking down a road he meets a man, who he believes to be the devil. Meeting this man changed who he can trust. Once he got to the ceremony he started to question the people in the Salem. He even started to not trust his parents and his wife. When he finally got back to the village after his journey, he started to look at everyone different and question whether he can trust the people he has know all his life. When i was reading this it was just a little confusing to me but once i stated to get into the story i started to understand things better. Reading this short started to remind me of a movie i watched in English, but i don't remember what the movie was called. The short story was interesting to me a little bit. I got bored near the end of it but that's probably because i was tired and lazy
this story reminds me of Adam and Eve. Don't eat the forbidden fruit or you will pay for your sins. When Goodman comes across this man in the woods, this evil,he is constantly tempted. He doesn't want to give in to the temptation but at times it is so powerful. This evil makes him go insane. When he returns to his wife Faith he is a changed man. He can no longer trust the ones around him. He didn't know if it was reality or his own imaginings. He is too afraid to trust because of what happened on the journey.
The story Young Goodman Brown shows how giving onto the temptations of the devil can ruin someones life. In this story Goodman Brown has to go through the forrest to run an errand. His wife, Faith, asks him not to go because she has a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen but he goes anyways and assures her that everything will be okay. Along his journey he comes across a man who he becomes to realize is the devil. The devil asks him to go to his evil ceremony but Goodman Brown says he has to get home to his wife whose name happens to be faith. This relates to how we have temptation in our life to do bad things and we can either make the right choice or the wrong choice. So the man leaves and goes to the ceremony. He begins to hear familiar voices coming from the ceremony. So he goes to it. This shows how things can draw us in to make bad decisions because it seems like things will be fine. He gets there and everything is in flames and everyone is worshiping the devil. He then finds himself in the woods or woke up and returns to his town. He gets there and he cant trust anyone because of what he experienced. This story shows that giving into the temptations of the devil will only result in bad things.
From the beginning of this story, even just the first sentence, you can tell that Young Goodman Brown was taking place in the time of witch trails being that it takes place in Salem village. When talking to his wife, I was unsure of what kind of journey Goodman Brown was going to take but he did seem very determined. Once he did start this journey, he started to feel bad that he left his wife alone but said he would cling to her once he returned which is not what ended up happening. Once Goodman Brown and his friend entered the forest, the story started to get confusing to me. I was not too sure as to what happening. To me it seemed as though they found this random woman in the wood and they decided to walk with her to this meeting. After this, there was an evil spirit who “killed” Goodman Brown’s wife. I am not a fan of symbolism but it almost seems like the pink ribbon represented something. Maybe life, pureness, or something else. I thought it was sad when he saw his wife and barely acknowledged her. He thought that she just died and he is not even happy that she is there. To me that’s just so weird. If that happened to me, I would run over to my significant other and embrace because they are still alive.
This story starts out with a man by the name of Goodman leaving his wife Faith to run an errand. Faith tries to discourage her husband from going but he assures her everything will be okay and that he will be home soon. I believe that the name Faith has a symbolic meaning. His wife was his rock and someone he could trust and he leaves her to go into the unknown. Once he leaves, he states that upon his arrival back home he will “cling to her skirt and follow her to heaven”. I thought this foreshadowed that there was a possibility that they could both die. He begins his journey through a sketchy forest where he meets up with a sketchy man who seems like he knows him and has been waiting for him. He states that he is sorry that he’s late and that “Faith kept me back”. This line displays to the reader that he is following the devil into the forest. The presence of the devil is better displayed when the man begins to try to get Goodman to do certain things all to which he resists stating that he must stay faithful for his wife Faith. In the end the man finally gets Goodman to hold his cane and that is where everything changes. Goodman essentially “looses Faith” and joins with the devil. Because of this he is unable to trust anyone again, including his wife Faith.
In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne we experience the transformation of a man of faith into one who does not believe faith is a real thing anymore. Goodman Brown sets off on a journey into the woods, a place where no Christian goes into because it is perceived as evil. On his journey he encounters a man, which symbolizes the devil, and begins to understand that he is not the only one of the Christian followers to venture out and become acquainted with the devil. Throughout the journey, the devil makes Goodman Brown question his faith, but even then Brown remains strong and holds to his religion tightly because he has Faith. Faith in this short story symbolizes to me, not only his wife, but purity and innocence. The pink ribbons Faith was wearing, mentioned various times throughout the story, also come to symbolize something. In the forest, Brown hears the cry of a woman and then sees pink ribbon fall onto the branches of one of the trees. In this scene, I think that his wife was stripped of her pink ribbons and so she is no longer pure to the Christian religion and no longer embodies innocence. At this point as well is where Goodman Brown truly loses all restraints and falls into the temptation of the devil. What was most valuable to him was taken from him by evil and so he really has no reason not to worship it. He experiences a lack of trust in his fellow Christian neighbors and believes that they are hypocrites; putting on the Christian facade and then venturing into the forest to worship the devil. Due to that lack of trust, he refuses to part take in any religious events and dies a solitary man. I feel like their association with the Christian faith was a cover up or something that made them “good people” and gave them a good name, even when they were participating in things that were the complete opposite in the dark hours of the night.
"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about a man who takes a journey through an unacceptable pathway. Goodman Brown travels down a path that Christians would not take and he ends up meeting a elderly man. The elderly man represents the devil and has a staff that resembles a serpent. As Goodman Brown continues down the pathway the elderly man acts as a temptation that tries to convince Goodman Brown to continue down the part. But Goodman refused to continue and ran away from the elderly man. This part of the story confused me because it seemed like he continued the path. The story didn't mention him returning from the path he came from, so I assumed he continued with the exception of the elderly man. As he traveled he heard familiar voices like the Deacon and his wife, Faith. But he continued to travel because they were not worshipping God. I thought that by continuing to travel, he was losing his faith without being aware of it. For example, he was so irritated with the people who he was familiar with that he continued to travel to get away from them. I also thought it was ironic that his wife was named Faith. Faith symbolized more than just his wife, it symbolized his value of his religion. I thought that when Goodman started to leave his wife, that was the point where he started to lose his faith. He literally started to lose his wife by traveling as the story mentioned "to his evil purpose." But he also started to lose his faith in his religion through the experiences while he traveled.
."Young Goodman Brown" this story no doubt is a true test to his faith to God. In the beginning of this story we can see that Goodman Brown is has very strong belief in Christianity. He seems though to be very concerned though that the devil is right behind him. Goodman Brown almost assumes that once the devil tempts his wants and questions his faith that he will automatically give in. When Goodman Brown walks by the old man with the serpent staff this is when I realized that Goodman Brown is about to go down a dark path. Once the old man utter "You are late, Goodman Brown" there was something not right with this man and will lead Goodman Brown to his doom. When Goodman Brown was tempted to go into the forest by this man his mind yelled at him that he has gone too far but he gave into the temptation. At this point I would say that the old man with the serpent staff could be the devil. This path that Goodman has to go down is a test of faith to God. "My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him." This will be no easy task to get through and it was all because he gave into temptation. The forest that tempts Goodman Brown reminds me of the Adam and Eve story. Both Adam and Goodman Brown gave into the temptation even when God instructed to stay away from the evil that causes the temptation.
The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was excruciatingly boring and I was fighting myself to stay awake while reading it. Young Goodman Brown had to run an “errand” in the woods, which symbolized an evil deed. Young Goodman Brown admits he is no saint when he said “Well, [Faith] is a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.” This also foreshadows him doing something bad. When he begins to walk through the woods a man with a cane, who looked like a serpent, was oddly expecting him. This man could’ve been one the devil’s servants based on his characteristics. This man continued to pressure Goodman Brown into grabbing his cane by saying how his father and grandfather took the path and came back. Goodman Brown continued to refuse until the cane somehow ended up in his hands. All of a sudden, Goodman Brown began to go insane not knowing who to trust (most likely due to the cane’s unknown “power”). Then, a rock rises (looking like an alter) and trees began to go ablaze around him. He then sees everyone from town at this satanic event supporting it. He somehow escapes (or it was all a dream, I was unsure) and returned to town with a new view of everyone. A priest tried blessing him and he refused it. Another one was teaching the bible to a little girl, he snatched her from the priest to “save her.” Lastly and most unfortunately, he refused to even trust his wife, and didn’t look at her. The story just ends by saying that he lived the rest of his life in gloom and constant fear. I don’t really understand the lesson being taught in this story, besides the idea that one shouldn’t trust the devil.
The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was very confusing to start with, but after gradually reading over it a few time I started to gain an understanding. The main character in the story is Goodman Brown, and throughout I watched him make decisions which changed his life. In the beginning Goodman Brown trusts the people around him and loves his wife Faith. However, after seeing a strange man (devil) in the woods, which then leads him to a ceremony. This is where Goodman Brown sees many of those he knows, following the devil; Faith his wife is there. After seeing all those people he thought were good, now he can’t trust anyone and it changes his world dramatically. Whether the ceremony was real or a hallucination, when he arrives back at the village he believes what he saw was true and starts to not trust many people and even his wife. This short story sounds very similar to the movie “The Crucible”. I believe the author was trying to show that those who are curious and are willing to go into the woods, once inside the things learned can never be forgotten and sometimes our curiosity can lead to unwanted information. After Goodman went in the woods he couldn't forget what he saw and it ruined his relationships with the people around him. There may be times in life when some information is better left unknown.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" was confusing for me at first, and I found myself having to reread several paragraphs over to understand what was being said. Near the end of the story, the overall plot became more clear to me. Being set in Salem, Massachusetts I automatically linked this story to the Salem Witch Trials. With this connection, I found it extremely ironic that the wife's name is Faith. Young Goodman Brown says his goodbye to her before he leaves to run his "errand" in the woods, and this symbolizes that he is leaving his religious faith as well, but claims he will be back. As he walked through the woods, he met up with a man with a serpent staff who told Young Goodman Brown that he was late. The serpent staff alone was enough to give the reader the sense of something bad is going to happen on this "errand". Later on in the story, Goodman Brown heard screams that were drowned by laughter in the distance. When the pink ribbon came down through the air, Goodman Brown cried that "his Faith was gone". This is not only referring to his wife, but it is an admission to the devil. He sees his neighbors and wife worshiping the devil at the ceremony in the woods, and starts to see everybody differently. The people the thought he knew so well, turned out to be the exact opposite of who they claimed to be. You only know a person for what they choose to show you. By being led by the devil through the woods, Goodman Brown learned the truth about a lot of people. While this "errand" through the woods which were said to be evil seemed to be a bad idea, maybe this is what Goodman Brown needed to see.
The short story, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was a very difficult story to read. It was boring a very hard to read continuously. The story was about a man named Goodman Brown. Young Goodman Brown went to go run an “errand” which indicated something evil. While on his path, Goodman Brown meets an old man which I believe symbolizes the devil. He says his family is a good family and he shouldn’t be going down this path. At one point in his trip he stops and just sits. After a while he hears the deacon and reverend talking about going to a meeting. After this Yong Goodman Brown continues walking and realizes that many people from his village and even his own wife Faith is at this meeting which has to do with witchcraft. Later when he returned to the village, he could no longer trust anyone from his village including his wife. He also did not whether or not that his encounter was a vivid dream or it happened in real life. He now looked at everyone differently and believed they were untrustworthy. This story reminded me of “The Crucible” and how it also discussed witchcraft. The girls were believed to be witches because of how they were dancing in the forest. They were no longer trustworthy in the community. “Young Goodman Brown” was a difficult read and I still do not fully understand what was happening during the story.
The short story "Young Goodman Brown" takes place during the times of the Salem Witch Trials. A man, Young Goodman Brown takes a quest into the forest during these times, to question what he really believes in. While in the forest Brown comes in contact with what appears to be the devil. While in the woods the devil questions Browns faith and if he truly is devoted to his god. Brown struggles in the forest with the devil but at the end he does succeed, and walks away from the devil. Ironically in this story Browns wife has the name of "Faith,' this is ironic because he leaves his wife to go on his journey and he abandons his own faith when he goes into the forest. When he returns though Brown is skeptical about everything and everyone around him, he believes in what the devil has said and the hallucinations he saw. Brown went on this journey hoping to figure out who he is, and to have a stronger relationship with his faith, but when he comes out of the forest, even more questions arise in his head as to who he is and if the people and faith he knows are truly there for him. Ultimately this short story was written to questions people faith, if you think about it Nathaniel Hawthorne is playing the role of the devil by writing this story, making the readers question their faith as they read.
This short story, at first, was a little difficult to understand. I didn't really realize what was going on or why they were walking through the woods, or even why the man's staff was described in detail as being similar to a serpent. however, as the story came to an end, I understood why everything else made sense. Goodman Brown's wife, Faith, represented the Christian religion. She didn't want him to go on his journey because she had a terrible dream about what might happen to him. Whatever happened to Goodman Brown in the woods, whether it was a dream or not, changed his life forever. After his experience, he began to slowly shy away from all things related to Christianity. He heard an "anthem of sin" during a singing of a holy psalm and feared that the roof would fall on the "blasphemer" reading from the Bible. As more time went on after his experience in the woods, he began to reject his wife, named "Faith" for a reason, because he was believing more and more in the devil and in witchcraft. Eventually, he even stopped praying with his family and scowled at them when they did so. Goodman Brown went from a devout Christian to a non-believer and had nothing carved on his headstone as a result.
The conflict of the short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, is man vs. self. Young Goodman Brown was a man that lived in Salem, Mass. He decided one day to go out on an errand, a journey to the woods (sign of evil during that time period). Leaving, his wife, Faith, home, he traveled out into the woods. As he was walking through the eerie woods, he ran into a man, who was oddly expecting him. This man, I believe was the devil (he was carrying a cane that looked like a serpent which is symbolism of the devil/evil). This old man, was tempting Young Goodman Brown, in different ways, through his journey. But Young Goodman Brown kept resisting the temptations given. Even though Young Brown resisted and made clear that he must stay faithful and strong for his wife faith (again, more symbolism, but this time of cleanliness/purity), the old man still tried luring him into his witchcraft ways by making Goodman experience scenarios in ways that Goodman could connect to (he knew they old woman, he saw Faith in the woods, and the old man said that he knew Goodman’s father). During the story, the old man was persistent in having Young Goodman carry his cane, Goodman kept resisting, but somehow he got a hold of it, making me believe that this was what made Goodman go insane and lose his innocence. The story makes the reader believe that this all was a dream, but Goodman really believed it happened. Because of what occurred in the woods, Young Goodman Brown lost faith in everyone, unable to trust people, including his own, innocent wife Faith and ended up ruining his life, not knowing what and who to trust.
ReplyDeleteYoung Goodman Brown was unable to control his thoughts, knowing what was real and what wasn’t, which lead him to lose faith, ruining his life. He even lost faith in his wife, Faith, who was a reoccurring symbol of purity and trust throughout the entire story, attempting to keep Goodman from losing his innocence and confidence in remaining pure like his wife.
What I took from the short story ‘Young Goodman Brown’ was certain things in this world are better unknown. More specifically this experience completely changed Goodman Brown’s outlook on everything forever. It changed how he viewed the minister, members of the church, his family, and even his wife. Before he went to the ceremony he really believed the minister was a true Puritan. (As anyone would believe). And once he saw the main person of his village that educated and is the leader of religion to his people at this evil ceremony it made Goodman Brown think everything was a lie. This concept goes along with Deacon Goodkin. Goodman Brown viewed him as a religious leader until he saw Deacon Goodkin following the devil. Moreover, he worshipped his father and grandfather for being true Puritans his whole life. Until the old man shot that image to the ground when he told Goodman Brown he has been with his father and his grandfather. This caused a 360 degree turn around in his life, probably leaving Goodman Brown thinking his entire life has been a lie. From all this being revealed he probably was very jaded and vulnerable he couldn’t help but run to the sound of Faith’s voice. However, she is also at this evil ceremony. And whether it was a dream or not, Goodman Brown can never look at the minister, Deacon Goodkin, Goody Cloyse, and his wife the same ever again. Basically, this whole concept changes Goodman Brown for the rest of his life. Before this experience he was a normal Puritan living happily with his wife, worshipping his religion from the minister, and proud of his father and grandfather. Once he comes back from this experience (from a dream or in a different world) he lives a terrible life not trusting anyone and scarred with this thought that everyone is evil. It’s impossible for him to forget this and live a happy life like he was before. Goodman Brown would have died a proud, happy Puritan if he did not experience this. Whether this was a dream or not I think Hawthorne is trying to tell people that some things in life are better unknown.
ReplyDeleteThe Short story “Young Goodman Brown” portrayed the Puritan time period perfectly. It shows the superstition of witchcraft and how that can affect even the simplest of tasks in Salem, Massachusetts. Young Goodman Brown decided to go run an errand in the eerie woods leaving his wife, Faith, behind. Faith didn’t want him to leave because of the danger that the woods conveyed, but he insisted he had to go. Shortly after entering the woods he runs into a strange old man, who was somehow expecting him. This old man and his serpent cane (in relation to the devil) accompanied him on his journey, constantly trying to get Young Goodman to join his evil, witchcraft, ways. He does this by making his offers appealing to Goodman. He makes him see his wife, a familiar old woman, and saying he knew his father and grandfather. Eventually the cane ends up in Goodman’s hand and he began to see everyone he cared about practicing witchcraft. This led him to believe that his whole life was a lie, and he was unable to have faith in anyone, even his innocent wife. This fear and lose of trust ruined his life. Whether this event was a dream or reality, he believed that it was true to a point that left him unable to look anyone he cared about (his wife, minister, and friends) in the eyes and trust them.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading "Young Goodman Brown" one thing that stood out to me the most was the amount of symbolism Nathaniel Hawthorne puts into his writing. Although some of the symbolism is masked, most of it is pretty straight forward. For example, the serpent on the devils staff symbolizes the devil himself as well as a foreshadowing for temptation. In the biblical story of Adam and Eve, they are both tempted by the serpent and ultimately give into his evil ways just like Goodman Brown did when he decided to use the staff to get him to the ceremony quicker once he thought he heard Faith's voice. The fact that his wife's name is Faith is very blatant as well. The further he walks away from his wife (faith) the closer he is to evil (the devil) and although he knows he must be getting back to her, he cannot and continues to separate himself more and more due to this temptation. Faith's pink ribbons are also refereed to more than once in the story and I believe that Hawthorne does this because pink ribbons are associated with innocence (I think of a little girl when I think of pink ribbons). Faith is ultimately this figure radiating purity and innocence, but that image is corrupted once Goodman Brown sees her at the ceremony. Once he arrives at the ceremony he also sees all of his loyal church going friends and acquaintances there. He awakes to what seems like a dream but can not shake the feelings he has. I think the meaning that Nathanial Harthrorne is trying to convey may be to stay on the straight and narrow path, follow your faith, and remain strong in your faith because as soon as you stray away from it you'll be doomed do to loss of innocence and purity. This meaning seems especially relevant due to the time that this story was written, which was the Salem witch trials when everyone was accused of being a satanist if they did not live a "pure" and "moral" life"....at least to the eyes of others.
ReplyDeleteI believe a possible theme in “Young Goodman Brown” is innocence. Goodman Brown lives in the village of Salem, which is a very Christian heavy place. He leaves the village to run an errand and his wife is afraid he’ll come back a different man because of the mysteriousness of the forest. While he walks through, he sees a lot of different people. The worst part is he doesn’t know if the people are really there, or if it’s his mind playing tricks on him. But he sees all these people that he knows from the village, such as Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin, who are very respected Christians, going to some sort of ceremony. It’s revealed that it’s an evil devil forest ceremony and that most of the town will be there. Goodman becomes immediately frightened and keeps saying that he wants to return to Salem, but he goes on anyways just to check it out. Once he gets there, he looks for his wife, Faith, hoping she’s not in attendance. He later finds out that she is there and that she is a “convert”, meaning she now wants to praise the devil. After seeing all of this, Goodman Brown has changed feelings about everyone in town, including Faith, and can no longer trust anyone because he is fearful of the other villagers. The innocence in all of this is in Goodman Brown. He chose to go do the errand; he chose to keep going to the ceremony, even though he had more than enough evidence to leave. But because he was so curious, he decided to go and now sees everything differently. Now, he doesn’t know how to react. How could such kind and religious people go to an evil witch ceremony to worship the devil? The one thing that could’ve saved Brown was that if he knew if it was all a dream or not. But it didn’t matter. His innocence was easily corrupted, and now he believes that he can’t go to or trust anyone, not even his wife.
ReplyDeleteI had trouble understanding “Young Goodman Brown” when I first read it. I wasn’t until I reread the short story that I fully understood plot. I consider Goodman Brown to be ignorant towards the evil spirits that surround him. He doesn’t not want to admit these evils and tells the old man that his he come from a good family. Goodman’s last hope is that his wife at home safe and she has not turned evil. Goodman realizes that his minister, deacon, and his own family have partnered with the devil. Goodman doesn’t not know if he experience in the woods was a dream or a reality. This confusion the author created makes for a great story. Goodman life has changed for the worst because of this encounter. The ending to the story was very sad. It is disturbing because now Goodman Brown doesn’t trust his peers and he even disowns his wife.
ReplyDeleteThe short story, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, represented the typical puritan life we see in books like The Crucible. All Puritan stories and books show their relationship between faith and witchcraft. Those two topics are the things that give the puritans there fame. The way I interpreted this short story is that even though Goodman Brown was no longer a child he still experienced a loss of innocence. He had chosen to go into the forest to run an earned, but ideally to meet with the devil. I believe he was the cause of his own loss of innocence. Throughout the story he doesn’t know if he is dreaming about the devil in the forest, or experiencing the devil in real life. Even if he is dreaming about it.. who dreams about that. Goodman Brown chose to walk away from “Faith”, his wife and also from his religious faith. When he kept going farther and farther away from faith (his wife) but symbolizing hi religious faith, his life became less pure and innocent. The puritans say that when you lose your faith you no longer good, that you are corrupted. I take this as him losing his innocence. When Goodman Brown realized that most of his friends and family were practicing witchcraft, was what kept him from returning home. This kept him from Faith his wife which would have kept him sane. After Goodman brown decided his whole life was a lie that’s when he realized his own innocence was lost.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “Young Goodman Brown” was actually kind of confusing for me to follow. I was able to pick up certain symbols and connections all throughout the time I was reading however, at the end of the story I was unable to tell if it was a dream or if it had really happened. The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts which automatically makes me think of the Salem witch trials. Soon after, I found the first connection to the witch trials to be Goodman Brown going into the woods. This reminded me of The Crucible and how the girls got reprimanded for playing in the woods because they are believed to be evil. While travelling through the woods, he ran into a man with a serpent cane. This led me to believe it was a symbol for the devil because of the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve, proving that the woods are an evil place. He leaves his wife whose name is coincidentally “Faith” and leaves her to be alone. Goodman Brown eventually sees others he knows including his wife and they appear to be worshipping the devil. He continues to move forward toward this ceremony even though he knows he should not. This is when Goodman Brown is changed. His thoughts and opinions of the others are completely flipped and he does not know whether or not he can trust them. He then wakes up from what appears to have been a dream and cannot tell if it was reality or not. I think one of the main points the author is trying to get across is that if you stay on the right path towards your faith, everything will go as you expect it will. However, once you consciously choose to make poor decisions against your faith, it will come back to haunt you and have an impact on you the rest of your life.
ReplyDeleteThe short story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the struggle of Young Goodman Brown of good versus the bad and innocence being corrupted. In the beginning of the story he believes in the good people in his life and people in his town but when he starts to see people from his community in the jungle his perception starts to change. At first he believes Faith is good and pure but he sees her at the witch ceremony he loses trust in Faith and starts to question whether anyone in his life has been a good person such as his father or grandfather.
ReplyDeleteThere is not much that I understood about this short story, however, I believe that Young Goodman Brown is experiencing some sort of hallucinations or a dream that has a heavy impact on him. I don’t understand why he chooses to leave his peaceful home and Faith to go venture in the woods at night. His decision and what he experience has a heavy impact on him and left him to wonder if he was making the right judgement about the people in his life. This story also depicts the lifestyle of the puritans and how they were always suspicious of even the closest people to them. These thought brought many problems within in their community and everyone was unable to trust each other.
I think this story shows a conflict between trust vs. mistrust. After meeting the strange man (the devil) in the eerie woods while completing an errand, this seems to become an issue in Goodman Brown's life. He starts to question his relationships with the people in his life whom he thought he had a good relationship with. This makes sense to be confused and not know what to think seeing as trust vs. mistrust is a developmental milestone that occurs as an infant. You begin to learn who you can trust and makes a child feel safe in the world. If Goodman Brown had already completed this stage and continued on the other milestones this would be a huge issue for him. After his journey and returning back home he feels he cannot trust anyone and thinks that everyone is evil. Goodman Brown's life was turned upside down and did not know how to respond to others. This even made him lose trust and faith. This may or may not have been a dream, but Brown believed it was true enough to the point that it changed his whole mind set and was unable to look at anyone that he cared about in the same way.
ReplyDeleteThe short story "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthrone shows how one event can change the way people think and who they trust. When walking down a road he meets a man, who he believes to be the devil. Meeting this man changed who he can trust. Once he got to the ceremony he started to question the people in the Salem. He even started to not trust his parents and his wife. When he finally got back to the village after his journey, he started to look at everyone different and question whether he can trust the people he has know all his life. When i was reading this it was just a little confusing to me but once i stated to get into the story i started to understand things better. Reading this short started to remind me of a movie i watched in English, but i don't remember what the movie was called. The short story was interesting to me a little bit. I got bored near the end of it but that's probably because i was tired and lazy
ReplyDeletethis story reminds me of Adam and Eve. Don't eat the forbidden fruit or you will pay for your sins. When Goodman comes across this man in the woods, this evil,he is constantly tempted. He doesn't want to give in to the temptation but at times it is so powerful. This evil makes him go insane. When he returns to his wife Faith he is a changed man. He can no longer trust the ones around him. He didn't know if it was reality or his own imaginings. He is too afraid to trust because of what happened on the journey.
ReplyDeleteThe story Young Goodman Brown shows how giving onto the temptations of the devil can ruin someones life. In this story Goodman Brown has to go through the forrest to run an errand. His wife, Faith, asks him not to go because she has a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen but he goes anyways and assures her that everything will be okay. Along his journey he comes across a man who he becomes to realize is the devil. The devil asks him to go to his evil ceremony but Goodman Brown says he has to get home to his wife whose name happens to be faith. This relates to how we have temptation in our life to do bad things and we can either make the right choice or the wrong choice. So the man leaves and goes to the ceremony. He begins to hear familiar voices coming from the ceremony. So he goes to it. This shows how things can draw us in to make bad decisions because it seems like things will be fine. He gets there and everything is in flames and everyone is worshiping the devil. He then finds himself in the woods or woke up and returns to his town. He gets there and he cant trust anyone because of what he experienced. This story shows that giving into the temptations of the devil will only result in bad things.
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning of this story, even just the first sentence, you can tell that Young Goodman Brown was taking place in the time of witch trails being that it takes place in Salem village. When talking to his wife, I was unsure of what kind of journey Goodman Brown was going to take but he did seem very determined. Once he did start this journey, he started to feel bad that he left his wife alone but said he would cling to her once he returned which is not what ended up happening. Once Goodman Brown and his friend entered the forest, the story started to get confusing to me. I was not too sure as to what happening. To me it seemed as though they found this random woman in the wood and they decided to walk with her to this meeting. After this, there was an evil spirit who “killed” Goodman Brown’s wife. I am not a fan of symbolism but it almost seems like the pink ribbon represented something. Maybe life, pureness, or something else. I thought it was sad when he saw his wife and barely acknowledged her. He thought that she just died and he is not even happy that she is there. To me that’s just so weird. If that happened to me, I would run over to my significant other and embrace because they are still alive.
ReplyDeleteThis story starts out with a man by the name of Goodman leaving his wife Faith to run an errand. Faith tries to discourage her husband from going but he assures her everything will be okay and that he will be home soon. I believe that the name Faith has a symbolic meaning. His wife was his rock and someone he could trust and he leaves her to go into the unknown. Once he leaves, he states that upon his arrival back home he will “cling to her skirt and follow her to heaven”. I thought this foreshadowed that there was a possibility that they could both die. He begins his journey through a sketchy forest where he meets up with a sketchy man who seems like he knows him and has been waiting for him. He states that he is sorry that he’s late and that “Faith kept me back”. This line displays to the reader that he is following the devil into the forest. The presence of the devil is better displayed when the man begins to try to get Goodman to do certain things all to which he resists stating that he must stay faithful for his wife Faith. In the end the man finally gets Goodman to hold his cane and that is where everything changes. Goodman essentially “looses Faith” and joins with the devil. Because of this he is unable to trust anyone again, including his wife Faith.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne we experience the transformation of a man of faith into one who does not believe faith is a real thing anymore. Goodman Brown sets off on a journey into the woods, a place where no Christian goes into because it is perceived as evil. On his journey he encounters a man, which symbolizes the devil, and begins to understand that he is not the only one of the Christian followers to venture out and become acquainted with the devil. Throughout the journey, the devil makes Goodman Brown question his faith, but even then Brown remains strong and holds to his religion tightly because he has Faith. Faith in this short story symbolizes to me, not only his wife, but purity and innocence. The pink ribbons Faith was wearing, mentioned various times throughout the story, also come to symbolize something. In the forest, Brown hears the cry of a woman and then sees pink ribbon fall onto the branches of one of the trees. In this scene, I think that his wife was stripped of her pink ribbons and so she is no longer pure to the Christian religion and no longer embodies innocence. At this point as well is where Goodman Brown truly loses all restraints and falls into the temptation of the devil. What was most valuable to him was taken from him by evil and so he really has no reason not to worship it. He experiences a lack of trust in his fellow Christian neighbors and believes that they are hypocrites; putting on the Christian facade and then venturing into the forest to worship the devil. Due to that lack of trust, he refuses to part take in any religious events and dies a solitary man. I feel like their association with the Christian faith was a cover up or something that made them “good people” and gave them a good name, even when they were participating in things that were the complete opposite in the dark hours of the night.
ReplyDelete"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about a man who takes a journey through an unacceptable pathway. Goodman Brown travels down a path that Christians would not take and he ends up meeting a elderly man. The elderly man represents the devil and has a staff that resembles a serpent. As Goodman Brown continues down the pathway the elderly man acts as a temptation that tries to convince Goodman Brown to continue down the part. But Goodman refused to continue and ran away from the elderly man. This part of the story confused me because it seemed like he continued the path. The story didn't mention him returning from the path he came from, so I assumed he continued with the exception of the elderly man. As he traveled he heard familiar voices like the Deacon and his wife, Faith. But he continued to travel because they were not worshipping God. I thought that by continuing to travel, he was losing his faith without being aware of it. For example, he was so irritated with the people who he was familiar with that he continued to travel to get away from them. I also thought it was ironic that his wife was named Faith. Faith symbolized more than just his wife, it symbolized his value of his religion. I thought that when Goodman started to leave his wife, that was the point where he started to lose his faith. He literally started to lose his wife by traveling as the story mentioned "to his evil purpose." But he also started to lose his faith in his religion through the experiences while he traveled.
ReplyDelete."Young Goodman Brown" this story no doubt is a true test to his faith to God. In the beginning of this story we can see that Goodman Brown is has very strong belief in Christianity. He seems though to be very concerned though that the devil is right behind him. Goodman Brown almost assumes that once the devil tempts his wants and questions his faith that he will automatically give in. When Goodman Brown walks by the old man with the serpent staff this is when I realized that Goodman Brown is about to go down a dark path. Once the old man utter "You are late, Goodman Brown" there was something not right with this man and will lead Goodman Brown to his doom. When Goodman Brown was tempted to go into the forest by this man his mind yelled at him that he has gone too far but he gave into the temptation. At this point I would say that the old man with the serpent staff could be the devil. This path that Goodman has to go down is a test of faith to God. "My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him." This will be no easy task to get through and it was all because he gave into temptation. The forest that tempts Goodman Brown reminds me of the Adam and Eve story. Both Adam and Goodman Brown gave into the temptation even when God instructed to stay away from the evil that causes the temptation.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was excruciatingly boring and I was fighting myself to stay awake while reading it. Young Goodman Brown had to run an “errand” in the woods, which symbolized an evil deed. Young Goodman Brown admits he is no saint when he said “Well, [Faith] is a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.” This also foreshadows him doing something bad. When he begins to walk through the woods a man with a cane, who looked like a serpent, was oddly expecting him. This man could’ve been one the devil’s servants based on his characteristics. This man continued to pressure Goodman Brown into grabbing his cane by saying how his father and grandfather took the path and came back. Goodman Brown continued to refuse until the cane somehow ended up in his hands. All of a sudden, Goodman Brown began to go insane not knowing who to trust (most likely due to the cane’s unknown “power”). Then, a rock rises (looking like an alter) and trees began to go ablaze around him. He then sees everyone from town at this satanic event supporting it. He somehow escapes (or it was all a dream, I was unsure) and returned to town with a new view of everyone. A priest tried blessing him and he refused it. Another one was teaching the bible to a little girl, he snatched her from the priest to “save her.” Lastly and most unfortunately, he refused to even trust his wife, and didn’t look at her. The story just ends by saying that he lived the rest of his life in gloom and constant fear. I don’t really understand the lesson being taught in this story, besides the idea that one shouldn’t trust the devil.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was very confusing to start with, but after gradually reading over it a few time I started to gain an understanding. The main character in the story is Goodman Brown, and throughout I watched him make decisions which changed his life. In the beginning Goodman Brown trusts the people around him and loves his wife Faith. However, after seeing a strange man (devil) in the woods, which then leads him to a ceremony. This is where Goodman Brown sees many of those he knows, following the devil; Faith his wife is there. After seeing all those people he thought were good, now he can’t trust anyone and it changes his world dramatically. Whether the ceremony was real or a hallucination, when he arrives back at the village he believes what he saw was true and starts to not trust many people and even his wife. This short story sounds very similar to the movie “The Crucible”. I believe the author was trying to show that those who are curious and are willing to go into the woods, once inside the things learned can never be forgotten and sometimes our curiosity can lead to unwanted information. After Goodman went in the woods he couldn't forget what he saw and it ruined his relationships with the people around him. There may be times in life when some information is better left unknown.
ReplyDeleteNathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" was confusing for me at first, and I found myself having to reread several paragraphs over to understand what was being said. Near the end of the story, the overall plot became more clear to me. Being set in Salem, Massachusetts I automatically linked this story to the Salem Witch Trials. With this connection, I found it extremely ironic that the wife's name is Faith. Young Goodman Brown says his goodbye to her before he leaves to run his "errand" in the woods, and this symbolizes that he is leaving his religious faith as well, but claims he will be back. As he walked through the woods, he met up with a man with a serpent staff who told Young Goodman Brown that he was late. The serpent staff alone was enough to give the reader the sense of something bad is going to happen on this "errand". Later on in the story, Goodman Brown heard screams that were drowned by laughter in the distance. When the pink ribbon came down through the air, Goodman Brown cried that "his Faith was gone". This is not only referring to his wife, but it is an admission to the devil. He sees his neighbors and wife worshiping the devil at the ceremony in the woods, and starts to see everybody differently. The people the thought he knew so well, turned out to be the exact opposite of who they claimed to be. You only know a person for what they choose to show you. By being led by the devil through the woods, Goodman Brown learned the truth about a lot of people. While this "errand" through the woods which were said to be evil seemed to be a bad idea, maybe this is what Goodman Brown needed to see.
ReplyDeleteThe short story, “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne was a very difficult story to read. It was boring a very hard to read continuously. The story was about a man named Goodman Brown. Young Goodman Brown went to go run an “errand” which indicated something evil. While on his path, Goodman Brown meets an old man which I believe symbolizes the devil. He says his family is a good family and he shouldn’t be going down this path. At one point in his trip he stops and just sits. After a while he hears the deacon and reverend talking about going to a meeting. After this Yong Goodman Brown continues walking and realizes that many people from his village and even his own wife Faith is at this meeting which has to do with witchcraft. Later when he returned to the village, he could no longer trust anyone from his village including his wife. He also did not whether or not that his encounter was a vivid dream or it happened in real life. He now looked at everyone differently and believed they were untrustworthy. This story reminded me of “The Crucible” and how it also discussed witchcraft. The girls were believed to be witches because of how they were dancing in the forest. They were no longer trustworthy in the community. “Young Goodman Brown” was a difficult read and I still do not fully understand what was happening during the story.
ReplyDeleteThe short story "Young Goodman Brown" takes place during the times of the Salem Witch Trials. A man, Young Goodman Brown takes a quest into the forest during these times, to question what he really believes in. While in the forest Brown comes in contact with what appears to be the devil. While in the woods the devil questions Browns faith and if he truly is devoted to his god. Brown struggles in the forest with the devil but at the end he does succeed, and walks away from the devil. Ironically in this story Browns wife has the name of "Faith,' this is ironic because he leaves his wife to go on his journey and he abandons his own faith when he goes into the forest. When he returns though Brown is skeptical about everything and everyone around him, he believes in what the devil has said and the hallucinations he saw. Brown went on this journey hoping to figure out who he is, and to have a stronger relationship with his faith, but when he comes out of the forest, even more questions arise in his head as to who he is and if the people and faith he knows are truly there for him. Ultimately this short story was written to questions people faith, if you think about it Nathaniel Hawthorne is playing the role of the devil by writing this story, making the readers question their faith as they read.
ReplyDeleteThis short story, at first, was a little difficult to understand. I didn't really realize what was going on or why they were walking through the woods, or even why the man's staff was described in detail as being similar to a serpent. however, as the story came to an end, I understood why everything else made sense. Goodman Brown's wife, Faith, represented the Christian religion. She didn't want him to go on his journey because she had a terrible dream about what might happen to him. Whatever happened to Goodman Brown in the woods, whether it was a dream or not, changed his life forever. After his experience, he began to slowly shy away from all things related to Christianity. He heard an "anthem of sin" during a singing of a holy psalm and feared that the roof would fall on the "blasphemer" reading from the Bible. As more time went on after his experience in the woods, he began to reject his wife, named "Faith" for a reason, because he was believing more and more in the devil and in witchcraft. Eventually, he even stopped praying with his family and scowled at them when they did so. Goodman Brown went from a devout Christian to a non-believer and had nothing carved on his headstone as a result.
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