Young Goodman Brown Essay

A Goodman’s Plight Innocence, the word itself brings to mind a pure being untouched by the evils of the world. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, Young Goodman Brown, he tells the tale of a young man and his path to realizing that no one in his village is innocent. This comes as a shock to him, but his own innocence is lost when he can no longer view those around him as pure and perfect. Symbolism is used with objects and motifs to demonstrate the overarching themes of the story. According to Hawthorne, what does the use of the pink ribbon and dream say about the loss of innocence? Faith’s pink ribbon is portrayed as one of the main indicators of the nature of innocence. In the beginning of the story Hawthorne writes “he looked back and
saw the head of Faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons” (Hawthorne 1). Pink is the combination of white and red, which have the meanings of purity and sin. Faith wearing a ribbon of this color shows that she may be seen as pure, but she has sinned in some way. Rather than being two choices between innocent or not. The ribbon shows a mix of the two, and that there can be different degrees of innocence in a person. Her innocence has already been lost, but her melancholy air makes it seem as though she may still have parts it and genuinely be concerned about his departure. In the communion scene, Faith’s pink ribbons have fallen off, and got caught in a tree (Hawthorne 5). The pink ribbons were seen as a symbol of innocence, and they were lost and caught on a tree. Due to the nature of trees to grow and live for many years, we see them as representing knowledge and age. This shows that Faith lost her innocence as she gained the knowledge of the sins the rest of the village had committed. Overall the pink ribbon was used to symbolize innocence as something lost through the acquisition of knowledge, and that it is more of a gray zone. The story is portrayed in a way that makes it seem like it could be a dream, and it shows a deeper meaning of the theme.
Goodman Brown, after Faith loses her ribbon, is seen flying through the woods with the look of a beast (Hawthorne 5). Flying and turning into a beast is not feasible in reality, so this shows another clue that he may have been dreaming. Dreams show that the innocence may not have been real in the first place. He does this after he finds out that Faith has joined the stranger, so it is a form of denying the truth. In this case the loss of innocence results in the behavior that does not seem real. It shows the disbelief leading him to a state of insanity, and how he would have rather not known all of the sins that people have committed. Goodman Brown has a hard time telling whether his time in the forest was a dream or reality near the end of the story (Hawthorne 7-8). Both answers are probable, so it means that either way his innocence would have been lost. Hawthorne uses the dream-like manner of the situation to show the inevitability of the outcome. The dream also represents how Goodman Brown wanted it to be false. He was apprehensive when finding out the real faces of the people in his town, and he wishes it was not true. Dreams are seen as elusive, and it adds a mysterious touch to the story. The illusory nature of the story tells that innocence would be lost no matter how the story ended, and that it is not lost willingly at
times.
Young Goodman Brown’s story is as relevant today as it was a hundred years ago. Society sees the loss of perceiving innocence as a part of growing up. Those who hold onto the belief are seen as childish. Every year brings more experience and knowledge. People begin to see the world through different eyes. Goodman Brown allowed this loss to change him for the worse. His values, beliefs, and actions skewed in its absence. This is a lesson. No one wants to be the lone soul whom no one can reminisce happily of at the end of their life. There will come a time when childhood innocence is lost; however, this is only a chapter in life, and it does not change the original composition of a person. Hawthorne uses the pink ribbon and the dream to tell us the inevitability of innocence being lost, and that no one is completely innocent to begin with.