Young Goodman Brown
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne gives the characters in the stories symbolic names and shows the naivety of Goodman Brown and how he changes his thinking at the end of his journey.Goodman Brown is very naive. Goodman Brown thinks everyone in town is good and pure, including his wife, Faith, with the pink ribbons. He calls Faith "a blessed angel on earth"(379) and says after his journey, he will not leave her again until death separates them. Goodman Brown also demonstrates naivety when he thinks that he is the only one that has searched for evil in the forest. He says "My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs. And shall I be the first of the name of Brown, that ever took this path"(380). Goodman Brown says that his family were a prayerful people and would not "abide no such wickedness"(380). Young Goodman Brown's name is very important to the person he is, as well as the person he becomes. Each of the three parts of Young Goodman Brown's name has meaning of their own. Young, for example, is symbolic to his age. He says, "What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost tho
The last name Brown directly describes the nature of his character. The meeting affects Goodman Brown for the rest of his life, leaving him to question the faith and trust that he holds in the people with whom he lives. Goodman Brown is unable to establish whether what he experienced that night in the woods truly happened or if it was a dream. Nathaniel Hawthorne: a study of the short fiction. Their names illustrate how much they are admired in society. This is shown when the devil "pointed his staff at a female figure on the path, in whom Goodman Brown recognized a very pious and exemplary dame, who had taught him catechism in youth, and was still his moral and spiritual adviser, jointly with the minister and Deacon Gookin" (381). When he returns, he Deacon Gookin praying at home and he says "What God doth the wizard pray to" (387)? Brown is actually questioning whether Deacon Gookin is praying to the God that he recognizes. When Young Goodman Brown travels into the dark, he finds himself face to face with the devil. Goodman Brown's last name, Brown has symbolism in the color of it alone. According to Nancy Bunge, Goodman Brown becomes "a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become from the night of that fearful dream" (11). Nathaniel Hawthorne; an introduction and interpretation. " Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama.
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