Young Goodman Brown Analysis Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts and his use of allegory and symbolism make him one of the most studied writers. In the beginning of Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Brown departs his wife, Faith, and goes on a journey to the forest, which he believes he will come back a better man from and also just because he is tempted to do so. He believes that his father and grandpa are good, faithful people, due to the line of history of his family being religious people, until the old man in the forest, who we perceive to be the devil, tells him that he knew them both. Brown believes in the Christian nature of the minister, and Deacon Gookin, until the devil shows him that the minister is a witch and …show more content…
The minister and the deacon are highly respected members of the small society that brown looks up to, they help guide and nourish him for his spiritual journey, and also other people in the community. But, on Brown's journey to the forest, he is confronted with a completely different view of things. On his journey, he comes face to face with the evil that not only screws up but just about destroys his faith. The man he encounters in the forest looks normal at first until he notices his walking stick, which is a realistically carved serpent. In the Bible, the serpent was redeemed as a symbol of evil power; so when a serpent is present, it is an indication that the devil is near or may even be the devil himself. This journey that he marched on, he thought would help him experience something that would not only build but nourish his Puritanical faith that him and his community share- only leaves him broken, lost, and confused about everyone and everything he believed in. Seeing the people he looked at as good, innocent people, show him their influence and relationship with evil, makes him question not only their motives but also his in life. This only added further complications to his problem, he is unsure of whether or not what he