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Man and Faith in "Young Goodman Brown"

Uploaded by sls465 on Apr 19, 2007

Man and Faith in "Young Goodman Brown"

The story Young Goodman Brown is about a man and his faith in himself, his wife, and the community they reside in. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest refuse the temptations of the devil and return to the village before sunrise. The time era is approximately a generation after the time of the witch trials.

Goodman Brown's struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can face. He reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. This characteristic of Goodman Brown is similar to the life lead by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of self doubt. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an unhappy person his entire life, never satisfied with his accomplishments. Goodman knowns what he must do but dreads the deed. Apon entering the forest he is suspicious of every rock and tree, thinking something evil will jump out at him. When he finally does meet someone on the trail, who appears to be of evil origin, he feels confident that he can refuse any temptations.

This evil person makes several advances and Goodman refuses. This makes Goodman feel strong until they meet his childhood catechism teacher and see her turned. This act deters his confidence to a great degree. He continues down the trail looking for hope in the heavens but hears only howling voices. Goodman eventually reaches his destination and sees the rest of the community there participating in satanic acts. When he sees this it destroys any faith he might of had in the community or himself and he appears to give-up. The following morning he finds himself in the forest and wonders what happened the previous night. Whether the scenes he witnessed were real or his imagination, he believes what he remembers and trusts no-one in the village, not even his wife. Goodman lives the rest of his years a miserable and distrusting man.

The lead character is happy with the locals and his faith until his trip, when he is convinced they are all evil. Apon this discovery he, in a sense, becomes evil. Whether he actually meets satin, and the community is evil or he fell asleep and tricked himself, he turns out suspecting everyone.

The author tells in the end that Goodman is distrustiing after his journey, so he either did...

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Uploaded by:   sls465

Date:   04/19/2007

Category:   Literature

Length:   4 pages (805 words)

Views:   4275

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