Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown" tells the story of a young man who lives in Salem, Massachusetts. In the story, Goodman Brown takes a journey through the "heathen wilderness" (201) and comes upon a witchcraft ceremony. All of the townspeople are there, which leads Brown to believe that they are all evil. At the end of the story, Brown wakes up in the woods and walks back into town. He does not know if the previous night's activities were real or if they were a dream. Nevertheless, it makes Brown suspicious of everyone. This shows that, since mankind is inherently evil, we all have sins that we cannot escape. This is shown through the characterization, style, and through the point of view.
             In the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown is leaving on an evil journey. He does not want to go, but he feels as though he must go. He feels that even though he is about to do something evil, he will still be able to get into Heaven by clinging onto his wife, Faith. This pun says two things. One, it shows that we cannot escape are sins. It illustrates this by Brown thinking that he will not be able to get into Heaven because of this one sin that he is about to commit -- he cannot escape this sin. Another thing that this pun points out is that we cannot get into Heaven unless we cling onto faith.
             Hawthorne suggests throughout the story that all of mankind is evil. He does this by his characterization. When Goodman Brown claims that his family has always been a good Christian family. The Devil replies by saying that he has helped Brown's father and grandfather do evil things. Hawthorne also places the Deacon and the Minister at the witchcraft ceremony. This implies that even our spiritual leaders have sin. In fact, the whole town of Salem was present at the ceremony. By doing this, Hawthorne is insinuating that everyone has sin. Brown finds it hard to believe that everyone is
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