РефератыИностранный языкUnUntitled Essay Research Paper Young Goodman Brownby

Untitled Essay Research Paper Young Goodman Brownby

Untitled Essay, Research Paper


Young Goodman Brown


by Nathaniel HawthorneIn short stories, I have learned that there is much more than what at


first meets the eye. Almost everything in the story has meaning. All I


have to do is try to find the hints and clues the writer drops and


manage to put them all together. I have to concentrate more than I ever


have so that I can interpret the authors meaning and what he or she


might really be trying to convey in the writing. In “Young Goodman


Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I determined that through diverse


symbolism, Hawthorne writes of a man who in his coming of age learns


that there is a darkness in everyone and upon this coming of knowledge,


he is forever changed.


From the start, Hawthorne describes Goodman Brown as a good Puritan who


is devoted to his wife ^ÑFaith,’ whose name he uses like a shield


for his


soul. At the beginning of his walk through the woods, Brown runs into


the Devil who tries to convert him; this is shown by the Devil’s


offering of the staff to Brown. The Devil goes on to say that Brown’s


family has had dealings with evil in the past; examples used are the


Salem witch trials and the killing of Indian non-combatants. This may


be Hawthornes way of dealing with guilt he might have felt over his own


forbears’ actions during those times. Brown goes on to say that he


could not bear the shame of betraying his faith while the Devil is


naming people known and respected by Brown to try to show him that it


wouldn’t really be that bad if Brown joined the witches’ coven. Wh

en


Goody Cloyse is encountered, Brown learns how she truly feels about him;


also, Goody Cloyse freely takes up the Devil’s staff. Proud of himself


for denying the Devil, while again using his wife’s name to strengthen


his resolve, Brown discovers that his respected Minister, Deacon Gookin,


and even the Indians are all servants of the Devil. When Brown learns


that his wife has given into the temptation of the Devil, the Christian


belief he is struggling to keep is shaken from him. “My Faith is gone!”


“There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! for to


thee is this world given.” This shows that the most important thing in


Christianity, his faith, is lost. Throughout the night, Brown finds out


more than he ever wanted to know about how his fellow Puritan townsmen


have betrayed their faith by giving in to their darker desires, he even


feels his father urging him onward to do the same. All that he learns


in the night is too much for him, and it changes a devoted husband with


bright hopes and a wife whom he loves to a tired, beaten, questioning


and almost faithless man.


Hawthorne uses symbolism to write a story that is open and ambiguous to


interpretation. For myself, I believe it is about Hawthorne himself who


is growing up in a time when many Puritan children are leaving the


Puritan faith. There are many times in the story when he is questioning


his faith by listing the examples of religeous infractions by his


peers. For all this, it is a wonder Hawthorn was not eaten by the


despair and guilt he lets Goodman Brown feel.Steve Nix

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