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Loss Of Innocence In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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A coming of age story is when the main character loses their innocence and makes a transition to adulthood. Young Goodman Brown is not an coming of age story but it still one where innocence is lost. Through the short text, Brown evolves from a young virtuous man to one full of spite. Even though he once was a pure young man, due to the epiphany within the forest Brown loses faith within his heritage and realizes he cannot trust the village. In the beginning of the sample text, Brown is shown as an young soft man who has a strong sense of loyalty and confidence towards his ancestors, as well as his religion. His innocence is shown before he takes his trip into the forest, he has a religious conversation with his wife telling her “Say thy prayers, dear Faith…”(Schilb, 1132) This conversation shows a safe assumption that he is an man that practices his beliefs very often and is ignorant of the evil around him. …show more content…

He was proud of his heritage, they had been strong godly men in battle or men of god who beat witches during the Salem trials. But as the Devil begins to explain that the men in his family where murders and not actually crusaders, as witches were never real and was only an excuse to beat women, meaning they are not as great as the village believes they are. The Devil also sheds light upon secrets within the community such as the church deacons, who often drink “The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me” (Hawthorne, 2) Within the Bible it states “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;whoever is led astray by them is not wise” (New International Version, Proverbs 20:1) meaning that those who drink excessively is foolish. The Devil is stating in the previous quote that members of the church often indulgently partake in alcohol which is indeed a sin. Thus the Devil continues to point out flaws within Brown’s heritage causing him dishonor towards

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During his journey of sin, Young Goodman Brown and the devil come upon Goody Cloyse, Young Goodman Brown's catechism teacher, and, still believing that she is a “pious and exemplary dame” Goodman Brown tries to stay away from the woman by pleading with the devil “I shall take a cut through the woods… being a stranger to you, she might ask whom I was consorting with” (3). Because of Young Goodman Brown’s beliefs of her innocence, it is even more jolting to him when she “knows her old friend,” the devil, and speaks about stolen broomsticks, recipes including “the juice of smallage and cinquefoil and wolf’s-bane,” and even the same devilish meeting that Young Goodman Brown and his accomplice are to attend (3). With signs that all point to sin and witchcraft, Young Goodman Brown’s shock in saying “That old woman taught me my catechism” had “a world of meaning” as he cannot possibly believe that a woman known to be so holy and righteous in the community could be so evil within. As Goodman Brown moves past the shock of Goody Cloyse’s actions, he is exposed to the sins of the holiest members of their Puritan community, the minister and Deacon Gookin. While Goodman Brown shamefully “[conceals] himself within the verge of the forest… he recognized the voices of the minister and Deacon Gookin” who speak of the same evil “meeting” as Goody Cloyse and even remark that “several of the Indian powwows” will even be present (4,5).

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His opening phrase in this scene is, “ “Faith kept me back a while” replied a young man, with tremor in his voice” (406). Although Goodman Brown’s conversation with his wife delayed him, he was referring to his faith in Puritan beliefs. In the beginning, he is uneasy with the idea of darkness and the unknown because that is all he has learned is to stay true to God. His faith is all he has known his whole life and deviating away from that ideal lifestyle is a foreign yet tempting idea. This is evident when he says, “ “Too far!

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