Loss Of Innocence In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Resting here, he overhears a conversation behind the trees, and it turns out to be Deacon Gookin and the minister discussing the witch ceremony where a young woman is to be taken into communion. The Deacon mentions, "I had rather miss an ordination dinner than to-night's meeting" (Hawthorne 303). Of course, Brown's knowledge of the minister and Deacon Gookin's involvement in such activity devastates him. Witnessing something like this can certainly destroy one's faith, but not Young Goodman Brown; well not yet. He shows that his faith is strong as ever when he says, "With Heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil" (Hawthorne 303).

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many different allegories are used. One of the most important allegories is Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith. Faith represents innocence, naivety, purity and Goodman Brown’s loss of innocence. In the beginning of the story, before Goodman Brown leaves Faith, Goodman Brown is oblivious to the evils around him. Then by the end, after his encounter with the Devil and journey through the forest, his eyes are opened to the evils he did not see before.

The first thing that the reader realizes when reading the text is that Goodman Brown is very anxious and uneasy when leaving his wife. He remarks, “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!” (Hawthorne np). This might explain how he is very unsure of what this “errand” might ensue. Of course, having read the story, the reader would know that the so called “errand” was an excuse to talk to the devil himself. Brown’s id basically triumphs when he makes the decision to leave his wife to converse with the Devil. This is the first red flag for the reader. Hawthorne inserts a foreshadow concerning this following the departure of Goodman Brown from his faithful wife. Brown states, “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!” (Hawthorne np). This is exactly what happens after he remarks that line, seeing the man on the road. The reader can now assess that Brown is unsure of his errand that he is running, considering that he is leaving the safe puritanical village and entering into the forest, a symbolic place of chaos and evil.

There are several themes in “Young Goodman Brown.” One of the themes that is mentioned throughout the story is love. The reader can tell Goodman Brown is a worthy husband by the way he talks and worries about his wife, Faith. Another theme in “Young Goodman Brown” is loss of innocence. In the beginning of the story Goodman Brown and Faith are a newlywed innocence couple. Throughout the story it shows the corruption of evil has gotten to them. The last theme is fear of wilderness. Brown battles between good and evil on his journey through the wilderness to find his true faith as he goes to meet with the devil.

He heard a scream and a pink ribbon fell down from the sky. Goodman Brown cried “My Faith is gone!” (9) Which we can take as he thought his wife was gone and the fact that he had lost his faith in God. Which is how I and most critics interpret that, however, Connolly states that “I should like to examine the story once more to show that Young Goodman Brown did not lose his faith at all. In fact, not only did he retain his faith, but during his horrible experience he actually discovered the full and frightening significance of his faith.” The story does say that his faith survives him, but I took that as pertaining to his

Goodman Brown shows he has a strong faith before he enters the forest and at times during his journey to the black mass. Hawthorne uses the name of Goodman Brown's wife, Faith, as a symbol of Goodman Brown's own faith throughout the story. The description of Goodman Brown’s wife can portray Goodman’s own faith when he says, "And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap" (140). Nathaniel Hawthorne claims that Faith is pure, innocent, and just simply virtuous, just like Goodman Brown’s own faith. Additionally, Mr. Brown’s calming and reassuring responses to his wife shows that his faith is strong and is not easily diminished when he says, “Amen!' Cried

Goodman Brown is in pure shock by Goody Cloyse’s appearance in the dark forest because she had taught him his catechism. Catechism is the initial schooling of the Bible in the Christian religion and is quite the contradicting hobby to have when participating in a black mass. This creates the sense that Goodman Brown's faith is beginning to crumble around him because his foundation of faith was created through the catethism that was taught by Goody Cloyse. Goodman Brown shows that his faith is weakened and tested when he "caught hold of a tree, for support, being ready to sink down on the ground, faint and overburthened with the sickness of his heart"(Hawthorne), once he witnesses his own town minister and Deacon Gookin are part of such deviltry. His faith begins to even more so once he calls out for his Faith and a pink ribbon from his wife falls from the sky of the forest.

Goodman Brown loses his wife to the devil. "My faith is gone cried he, after one stupefied moment"(Hawthorne 5). Faith not only represents his wife Faith but she also represents his religious faith. When Goodman Brown loses his wife faith to the devil when he hears that she made a deal with him. Goodman Brown also loses his faith in god. Goodman Brown losing his faith in god is Goodman Brown losing his innocence. It also means loss of innocence for him because his faith in god has been a staple for him presumably since he was a child. So losing his faith is losing his

Goodman Brown is obviously a good Christian man in the beginning as he presents himself as a loving and caring husband. This love that he holds towards his wife is a representation of his innocence and his loyalty to her similar to the loyalty he holds in the beginning to his religious faith. However, as soon as he embarks on his journey ignoring his wife’s warnings she gives him her blessing and says “Then God bless you! And may you find all well when you come back. ”(Hawthorne, pg. 554).

Everyone seems to be doing what they always did and everyone who Goodman Brown held with very high standards had so quickly become worthless to him. Goodman Brown still shows some faith by attending church but he feel hypocritical based on the current situation he is in. Hawthorne writes “Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith.” Hawthorne once again brings up Goodman Browns wife, Faith, and uses it as reference to Goodman browns faith. This quote shows that Goodman Brown still has a little bit of faith but now that he knows about all of the darkness, evil, and hypocrisies in the world he is still pulled away from the world at times. At the end of the short story Hawthorne quotes Goodman Brown by saying, “for his dying hour as a gloom”, this gives us a sense that Goodman Brown never lost his way of thinking towards his town and society. The hypocrisy and evil in the world contains has never left the way he sees the

On he flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him” (6). With the absence of his wife, this outrageous anger within Brown explodes, and he begins to let his demons out, which would make any passerby, fearful. Everyone on Earth is a sinner, but not everyone is completely evil. However, Faith, both his wife and his faith in God, were the only things keeping Brown at bay. When his wife Faith is lost, so is he because she is the only reason for him to have faith in himself and in God.

Mr Dick (landlord, appellant) hired Mr. Stephens (plumber, second respondent) to fix a faulty solar hot water system (SHWS). On completion, Mr Stephens failed to alert Mr Dick that he had not disconnected the electricity. Later, Mr Dick hired Mr Harley to fix a leak in the roof and on noticing the live wire, Mr Harley informed Mr Dick. Six weeks after notifying Mr Dick, Mr Harley returned to repair the leakage; however, he was electrocuted upon removing the electrical panel of the SHWS.

Brown believes that his wife should be excluded from the meeting so she will remain pure, yet somehow believes that his presence is mandatory and gives no thought to his own purity. He believes that Faith's immediate acceptance into heaven will pull him along with her, regardless of his sinful actions. Brown's nervousness about his journey shows that he is conscious of the risks, yet he refuses the possibility of remaining home because he believes in his own ability to resist corruption, even if he does not believe in Faith's. Brown's willingness to make an exception for his own actions while refusing the same exception for Faith is one of Hawthorne's first scornful examples of hypocrisy. Similarly, Hawthorne highlights the hypocritical juxtaposition of Brown's actions during and after the ritual. When Brown discovers Faith's pink hair ribbon and realizes the Devil has taken her, he is terrified and continuously searches for her as the Devil speaks. However, upon finding her and waking up from his dream, he treats her differently because of her attendance: "Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith; and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down

From the beginning of “Young Goodman Brown”, he sets off on his adventure right at sunset. But to set out on sunset means to go during darkness. In describing it in that sense, it is symbolizing evil, which establishes the setting of the story. When Goodman Brown is beginning his journey into the woods, he tells his wife, who is aptly named Faith goodbye. Hawthorne intentionally names her Faith because it symbolizes the faith in God that he and his wife share, and to also depict what Goodman Brown leaves at his house while he goes on his adventure. His wife is wearing pink ribbons in her hair, which implies that she is a pure, innocent woman. Before Goodman Brown begins his departure into the woods, she tells him not to go until sunrise. This implies that going during a sunrise is much more peaceful and pleasant rather than going during sunset when it is otherwise

This loneliness comes only after he is far away from his Faith and God and traveling deeper into the darkness of the forest, only “assisted by the [evil], uncertain [false] light” (2187). Young Goodman Brown overcomes his loneliness when he meets an older traveler who tells him that even Brown’s own family has come to the woods and shows him other supposed Christians who are in the woods on this night, too. Deception, something that evil uses to try to lure all people into its darkness, begins to slowly take hold of Goodman Brown when he sees other people he admires and looks up to in the woods, such as Goody Cloyse, towns-people (both good and evil), and even Deacon Gookin and the minister. Goodman Brown wants to fight against the evil images that he is enclosing him in the woods and he even calls out to his Faith, which represents not only his wife but his own faith in goodness and God, but his cries are “drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices, fading into far-off laughter, as the dark cloud swept away” (2191). Finally, evil wins over Goodman Brown when he cries that his “Faith is gone,” meaning his relationship with his pure, good wife and his relationship with his pure, good God, when he sees Faith’s pink