John Goodman

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown”, the author uses several different literary elements to tell the story of Goodman Brown’s transformation. Why did he begin his journey and what were the repercussions of this decision are questions to be asked. An examination of character, setting, and symbolism provides some insight. Goodman Brown’s choices illustrate that one’s actions can lead to unintentional consequences later on in life and the author’s use of setting and symbolism

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

see is not always what you get. Why did Goodman Brown leave his wife, Faith, to begin with? I believe that his wife may have simply been a manifestation of the actual term for faithfulness in God. It is difficult to judge Goodman Brown as having any good intentions with his journey in the woods, after all, he left his wife alone and afraid with every intention of meeting a dark stranger for a reason unknown to the reader. One theory I have is that Young Goodman Brown experienced a form of limbo where

The idea of faith plays a major role in the outcome of the short story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Young Goodman Brown is at first depicted as exceptionally faithful and good. Throughout the story, however, Brown's faith begins to unwind layer by layer as he follows the Devils deeper into the forest. His faith continually wavers as the Devil reveals the people in Young Goodman Brown's life that have been corrupted. Eventually, after several stages and encounters with wickedness, he

to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true,” Nathaniel Hawthorne said. The theme of the moral lesson is that Brown stayed loyal to his beliefs towards God despite the peer pressures from the Devil and evil. Goodman Brown stays devoted to God by not giving into the Devil’s lies. The Devil told Brown that should be like his father and father before him but Brown refuses to sell his soul to the Devil. With all the pressure the Devil is pushing onto Brown, he still

“Young Goodman Brown” Evidence of Brown’s encounter being real is the fact that, when the ritual suddenly ended, Brown found himself in the exact spot that he had been, instead of in his bed, seeming to indicate that it wasn’t a dream. However, this same scene can also point to the event being a result of Brown’s imagination. All the members of the cult, who have physical bodies, vanish instantly. Brown could very well have been sleepwalking. For all we know, Brown may have already been a little

The setting in Young Goodman Brown helps develop character. The scene is set up by the sky. Young Goodman Brown says he will continue to resist the Devil, and the sky turns from “blue” (62) with “stars brightening” (62) to “a cloud […] hid[ing] the […] stars” (62) in an instant. Trying to escape the Devil is hopeless, as Hawthorne foreshadows in the quote. Brown will experience a fall from religion. A bright, optimistic sky, to a “black mass of cloud” (62), the eventual end of his goodness. Often

never think about it. I believe everything has a meaning to it, just like when people see a santa, that is a symbol of christmas. In young goodman brown there a lot of things that have symbols to them. At the beginning of the story faith, young Goodman Brown's wife is a symbol of faith. As her name is faith she symbols goodmans faith in god. He chooses to meet with the devil in the woods. Evil is trying to lead him away from her. After seeing all the evil things in the woods

the story "Young Goodman Brown", we find that in a lot of the things in the story. We first see it in the form of his wife Faith, who ironically stands for his faith in God. The story states, "Faith kept me back a while," (line 40 pg. 2) Young Goodman Brown says this to the devil as he meets him in the forest. By saying this, he's saying his wife held him back, but also his faith in God also forced him to reconsider for a minute before leaving. Faith is someone who, Young Goodman Brown, looks to when

He walked along the edge of the dark, twisted, and utterly ruined road. He was sure of where he was going, but it was still very easy to get lost in this forest. To make it worse, it was night and it was going to rain soon. The trees looked like ghosts and even sounded like them because the wind was blowing extremely hard. He led his mare on, disregarding the white bones that seemed to glow even without the moon. Again, he knew where he was going. The thing that he didn’t know was why he was