Identity In Young Goodman Brown And Out, Out

As life goes on, you’ll meet yourself facing multiple obstacles and uncertainties. Whether they stem from external sources like other people or from internal struggles like disillusionment; these struggles can lead individuals to become deceived or deluded. The theme of life’s illusions can be explored from works such as Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and Robert Frost's "Out, Out". This short story and poem portrays characters who experience shifts in their ideology which causes them to obtain a deeper understanding of life. Each author attacks the theme with different perspectives, but both can agree that life is more complicated than meets the eye.

“Young Goodman Brown” and “Out, Out” touch on the topic of the illusion of innocence.

In “Young Goodman Brown,” after going through the forest and having “death’s” incarnate show him the truth of the people around him, Brown has to face that they are not what he knew them to be. In paragraph 18, it states, “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say” (Hawthorne 18). This explains how he used to believe that all the Puritans he once knew well were all religious; now they are not. “Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading, lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemers and his hearers” (Hawthorne 72). This showcases how he now realizes the real identity of the people around him and hopes that they are struck down by God himself for betraying his trust. These two sentences from the text show that the identity of the people who were close to him were false to him until he found out for himself at the end of the story. In the poem by Robert Frost, the boy's death is merely brushed off by the people around just like he is an inconvenience. At the end of the poem it states, “and they, since they were not the one dead, turned to their affairs” (Frost 33). This highlights how the people that surrounded the boy just quickly continued on with their lives without a second thought of

In “Young Goodman Brown,” Brown is fooled by the people who are closest to him until he figures out the truth that everyone around him isn’t sin-free and pure as he believed them to be. Similarly to “Young Goodman Brown” in “Out, Out,” the boy who works at the saw is unaware of the dangers of his job and is blindsided by them until it becomes too late. The illusion of reality is also present in both literary works; with Goodman Brown realizing the whole world is tainted with sin and the boy demonstrating the unpredictability of nature of life, the boy losing his life. The article can also be seen as an illusion of reality because the Emerging Writers of Blinn College believe that the journey through the forest is a metaphor for the journey through life. This is similar to the other works because it shows the difficulties and challenges that can be faced when dealing with life. Lastly, the illusion of identity is seen through Brown not knowing who the people around him really are and the people of “Out, Out” quickly dismissing the death of the boy. These literary works all have different perspectives on the theme, but they can all agree that life isn’t always a smooth