Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a very controversial story. The story can be interpreted in a couple of different ways. This story is about a young man, Goodman Brown, who goes off one night into the woods, leaving his innocent wife, Faith, behind. To the reader, he does not identify a specific reason behind why he has to go this night and what exactly he is expecting to achieve by leaving into the woods. Although, it is easy to conclude that most likely the trip will take a dark toll, this is because Young Goodman Brown says, “Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee”, pg. 1346, para.5. During his journey, he sees a few people that he believed to be good christians; Goody Cloyse, Deacon …show more content…
Nevertheless, I do not think that changes the effect that it had on Young Goodman Brown. Whether it was a dream, imagination, or real he took it personally. I think that sometimes dreams can be so realistic that people can feel everything that felt in their dreams and even sometimes believe that they could possibly be true. Even though dreams are not real, they can feel very real and people can wake up with all different sorts of emotions from their nightmare or dream. In addition, the thoughts that are in the dreams come from the mind, and how people are truly feeling. This can really mess with people because dreams can become almost twisted and make you feel differently about something in particular when you …show more content…
In conclusion, I do not think that it matters if it was a dream or not because I think that it would have affected him the same way. He continued to live his life in the belief that everything that he had been through was very real without complete confirmation that it was, and he lacked true happiness in his life throughout the years to
In Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown" it can be described as a moral allegory that illustrates the puritan doctrine of inherent depravity as the Brown. He tests his faith by entering the forest primeval by joining the man "of grave and decent attire" for an evening in the wilderness. It is apparent the symbols are of a religious nature. Hawthorne wrote in the time period known as the Romantic Period. Hawthorne's rejection of the Puritan belief system is the primary message of this story.
Nathaniel Hawthorne leaves it to our own opinion to believe if Goodman Brown was dreaming or awake. In the beginning of the story it’s believed they saw Goodman Brown was awake before going into the forest. Then when he going into the forest, Goodman Brown had fallen asleep. So, the story has us believe that his worst fears came to reality. In the end it leaves us to question in what we thought from the beginning.
He was having thoughts that he never had before his mind is expanding and thinking more to itself. He is is having beliefs of how his life actually came to be and thinking more about life of his everyday routine. Surviving and actually being an individual is difficult to achieve in life now a days. In life people depend on a lot of beings to be there and help them throughout their struggles.
In a since, if his dream was true, then he lost the point of redemption, and could not handle the truth. In his story, the truth did not set him free, but this caused him to be a slave wasting away in his prison called
Hannah Martin Journal #4 The story “Young Goodman Brown” is one filled with intense irony. Written in the third-person point of view of a man who considers himself very faithful, with an overall favorable appeal with his relationships and the surrounding society, as is similarly stated throughout the beginning of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown”. Goodman Brown, a married man to his beautiful wife Faith, decides to accomplish a task that requires him to leave during the night.
mother. Paul wanted that his mother could celebrate her birthday diligently and dignity by having all facilities leaving aside past deprivation. He managed handsome money indirectly through lawyer in the name of some unknown relative who deposited this money on the condition to pay Paul mother at the time of her birthday in instalments. His mother received a letter from lawyer and when she approached lawyer, she insisted to receive whole money at a time that was one thousand pounds. This showed that Hester thought of only herself and she wanted to get all the money at once on the proclamation that she had to pay back her debts but instead of paying her debts, she spent all money in extravagant.
In both of these short stories Hawthorne’s “Young Good Man Brown” and O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” the bible is the topic of discussion as a literal expression throughout each story. Both authors write about the existence of Christianity and evilness in their stories. This gives the audience an opportunity to read from two very different mindsets. It’s determined that in both stories the characters have fallen from redemption, but at a certain point return back to Christ.
In the text, “Young Goodman Brown”, Brown’s gloom and withdrawal is justified by the shocking events in the forest. This is because, during his time in the forest, be bears witness to supernatural events in which he sees that many people he knows from the path of god are in reality on the path of the devil. For Brown to be justified in his feelings, the events in question must be deemed events that were real. To start, when Brown first exited the woods after witnessing the ritual, he heard Deacon Gookin, a man at the ritual, praying.
He said that fear was spreading inside of him like weeds. He would see himself dead or be killing another human. He wanted the reader to put themselves in the position of being killed or ending another man's life, which almost everyone fears in some way, to help the reader relate and fear with him while they read. (42) Although these dreams are not used a lot, they clearly express the fear he felt before heading off to the
How Dreams Affect Reality In the works of Chester Himes there is an underlying theme of dreaming. Throughout his various stories Himes uses dreams to function as a retreat for his characters. In his short story “The Meanest Cop in the World”, Himes is able to concoct an entire story that is descriptive and lifelike, which the readers just assume is real. However, when the curtain is pulled back at the end and Himes tells the readers that the entire thing is just a dream the readers are shocked.
“Young Goodman Brown.” : An Annotated Bibliography “Young Goodman Brown” is a story about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Gregory, Leslie. " The Text of Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "Young Goodman Brown". " American Literature Research and Analysis.
Goodman Brown enters the forest knowing of such evil, he states in the story “what if the devil himself should be at my very elbow” (Hawthorne 322). Goodman Brown sees the minister and Deacon Gookin as well as many other townspeople making their way into the dark forest towards the ceremony. At this time, Nathaniel Hawthorne is displaying that many people of all ranks in religious and governmental society are sinners despite their external appearance. He holds on to the thoughts that as long as Faith remains holy, he shall find it in himself to resist the temptations of evil, but when he sees the pink ribbons from Faith’s cap his Christian faith is weakened. Hawthorne is using Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, as a symbol of his own when he yells out “my faith is gone!”
Significant Quote: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown refuses to travel no longer with the Old Man and he responds, ‘“...when you feel like moving again, there is my staff to help you along” (40). This quotes demonstrates the inevitable loss of innocence. Goodman Brown at first refuses, but does use the staff―which earlier in the story was shaped like a snake―because he was convinced that Faith had turned evil. The Old Man is the devil and he bargains with a counterfeit spiritual power and gives Brown the choice to take the staff and therefore give his life to him.
When Goodman Brown is being tempted to go to the witches Sabbath, we see even those who must be the most holy people of the town on their way to the Sabbath, making Goody Cloyse “a marvel, truly, that [she] should be so far in the wilderness at nightfall” (Hawthorne 3). The devil uses this person, especially to try to push Brown over the edge into temptation. Much like there is a ‘Faith’ keeping a person on the mindset of goodness and pureness, there are aspects of life drawing us away from the goodness. Temptation is everywhere and the goal of temptation is to lead you away from purity to the evil. This temptation is often ignored or denied in an attempt to not fall into it.
The story of Young Goodman Brown is the story of a tale about the main character becoming aware of the hypocrisy of his faith as a Puritan. Through his travels in the woods at night, he unveils the truths, or what he believes as truths, about his wife Faith, neighbors, and fellow Christians. By the end, Brown loses all trust in his Faith, both literally and spiritually, and refuses to see any good in the world. The beginning scene where Goodman Brown meets the old man has the most significance in the story’s resolution. This is where his mistrust starts to form and where he experiences his first temptations to sin.