Ethan Brand is introduced in the short story "Ethan Brand" as a normal looking man, nothing special about his abnormal physical appearance. "A man in a coarse, brown, country made suit of clothes, tall and thin, with the staff and heavy shoes of a wayfarer" (233). Although he is describe as normal, there is still something that shocks the child about Ethan Brand. "There is something in the man's face which he was afraid to look at, yet could not look away from" (233).
             Ethan Brand is a legend in Graylock. When Bartram finds out whom the stranger really is he says, "they call it eighteen years since you left the foot of Graylock. But, I can tell you, the good folks still talk about Ethan Brand" (233). Ethan Brand left Graylock eighteen years to discover the "Unpardonable Sin." When Bartram and Ethan Brand are left alone, all of the rumors and stories of Brand running through Bartram's head. Bartram heard that he conversed with the devil at the very spot they sitting in the forest. Bartram said to himself, "he is a madman too" referring to Ethan Brand (235).
             After Bartram and the child go to sleep, Ethan Brand uncovers the "Unpardonable Sin." Since he found this horrible, unforgivable sin, he could not live, and burn himself to death. After Bartram and the child wake to find Ethan is gone the child says, "the sky and mountains all seem glad of it" (242). When they discover that he was burnt to death, they look at his heart, and ponder if it was made of limestone.
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