While on the surface both Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Minister's Black Veil" seem to be about the "truth" of man's evil nature, when it is in fact much more than a commentary of man nature. "Young Goodman Brown" is at its base an instruction manual that explains how people should not look at the world. Hawthorne proposes that each person should separate his perception of reality from that of the popular masses and discover his own "truth" in the world. Every person contains two egos, each with a different purpose. One takes the role of interacting with the outside world and adjusting to fit into the puzzle of society, thus blending tightly with others and limiting uniqueness. Our other ego is one's "true" self. This ego contains all of the hopes, dreams, and mannerisms of a person. This ego is the single factor that makes it necessary for a person to step away from others and make informed decisions on his own. However, Hawthorne suggests that the monotony, sense of helplessness, and hierarchy that exist within the Puritan lifestyle suppresses our "natural" behavior. Because, in reality, each person is unique and therefore determine good and bad differently making it necessary for a person to look at life through his own eyes and not have it dictated by the church.
             In leaving Faith, his beloved wife, behind, and the comforts of his planed out Puritan life Young Goodman Brown makes his first decision as an individual, and for the first time he is able to create his own perspective of the world. However, because Goodman Brown has been preached the idea that "[Puritans] are a people of prayer, and good works, to boot, and abide in no such wickedness." He is thus not able to wrap his mind around his findings, for they directly contradict what he has been branded into him all his life. On Goodman Browns journey he di...