In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown", the characters in the story bear much symbolic significance. The main character, Goodman Brown, is an immature man who feels the need to test his faith by taking a journey through the forest. His going into the woods, however, is a misguided test of his faith because his entire faith is founded too much in human frailty. He puts all of his beliefs in the way his Puritan community behaves, thinking that their actions should reflect his faith. Hawthorne is perhaps suggesting that faith, which is anything other than deeply personal, is not faith at all.
             Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin are representatives of Brown's faith because supposedly they are people of God. Goodman Brown thinks that everyone in his village was free from sin, especially those who dedicated their lives to the teachings of God. Goody Cloyse was the lady who taught Goodman Brown his catechism; she was for him the reflection of his faith when he was a child. When Goodman Brown sees her in the forest, he becomes blind to reality and does not want to believe that she may have some connections with the devil; in fact he reinforces his mind that she is godly by telling the old man, "That old woman taught me my catechism." Goodman Brown becomes doubtful of himself and decides not to go on any further on his journey because he fears he could lose his faith. When Brown says, "What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil, when I thought she was going to Heaven!" He is referring to the disappointment he may encounter if Goody Cloyse turned out to be a witch. Also, Goodman Brown sees Deacon Gooking in the forest. At this point, Brown is beginning to suspect that there is something wrong, but he becomes astounded when he hears Deacon Goookin say, "They tell me that some of our community are to be here from Falmouth and beyond, and others form Connecticut and Rhode Island; besides several of the Indian powwows (Indian ...