A Walk in the Woods: A Review of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown
J. Bish Ms. Mongomery English 2 20 June 2011
A Walk in the Woods
In his dark short story, Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores that everyone has two sides, a good and a bad. This story is based in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, where the historic Salem witch trials took place. This story is an example of what people thought and kind of what went on during the witch trials. At first glance the story is about a man's late-night walk in the forest to meet a man and go on a journey to find meaning, but the story has many different themes and a lot of symbolism thats key in the story. The symbolism can be found throughout the story from different people such as Faith (faith), Goodman Brown and the man in the woods. It can also be found in names and little things like the pink ribbon. Another thing that shows a lot of symbolism and that plays an important part in the theme of the story is the forest. Goodman Brown could represent anyone. He is basically the everyman. The symbolism starts right at the beginning of the story. Goodman Brown is first described as young and newly married. His wife's name is Faith, a detail that has significance to the theme and symbolism. At the beginning of the story we could assume that Goodman Brown is a believer and follower of god, but he is still curious. His connection to “Faith” is young and still being established since they just got married. He doesn’t really cling to faith yet, which can be seen from his thoughts about leaving on his journey, away from Faith for the evening: “Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a wretch am I, to leave her on such an errand! Well, she's a blessed angel on earth and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven” (p.326).
Goodman Brown intends to come back and take care of his Faith, but only after he gets the journey out of the way and gets the answers he wants. Faith (or faith) did
A Walk in the Woods
In his dark short story, Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores that everyone has two sides, a good and a bad. This story is based in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, where the historic Salem witch trials took place. This story is an example of what people thought and kind of what went on during the witch trials. At first glance the story is about a man's late-night walk in the forest to meet a man and go on a journey to find meaning, but the story has many different themes and a lot of symbolism thats key in the story. The symbolism can be found throughout the story from different people such as Faith (faith), Goodman Brown and the man in the woods. It can also be found in names and little things like the pink ribbon. Another thing that shows a lot of symbolism and that plays an important part in the theme of the story is the forest. Goodman Brown could represent anyone. He is basically the everyman. The symbolism starts right at the beginning of the story. Goodman Brown is first described as young and newly married. His wife's name is Faith, a detail that has significance to the theme and symbolism. At the beginning of the story we could assume that Goodman Brown is a believer and follower of god, but he is still curious. His connection to “Faith” is young and still being established since they just got married. He doesn’t really cling to faith yet, which can be seen from his thoughts about leaving on his journey, away from Faith for the evening: “Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a wretch am I, to leave her on such an errand! Well, she's a blessed angel on earth and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven” (p.326).
Goodman Brown intends to come back and take care of his Faith, but only after he gets the journey out of the way and gets the answers he wants. Faith (or faith) did