Young Goodman Brown False Identity

The short stories “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The guest” by Albert Camus, “The Dead” by James Joyce, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are all very interesting. At first glance these stories seem like they have absolutely nothing in common. They’re from different time periods, written by different authors, and all take place in a different location. After much thought, the theme of identity has made itself very clear in all four works. Whether identity unclear to the reader or the main character, there is a sense of false identity present in all four stories. Beginning with “Young Goodman Brown”, a story of a young puritan man’s spiritual journey which lead him to question everything about his own existence. In puritan society only, a preselected group of people are able to go to heaven while the rest will go to hell no matter what their deeds or spiritual work. Brown was one of the ones who was predetermined to go

This woman spends her life isolated, on drugs, and most likely fed lies by who she believes is her husband. This unknown factor of the story allows for many different interpretations, such as the idea that this woman is insane, being medicated for insanity, and her husband is actually her doctor. There is also a ghostly vibe, especially when the woman starts talking about the wallpaper, in which she believes a woman is trapped. In the end, the popular belief is that she hangs herself in front of her husband, while trying to get everything sorted out. The woman never identifies herself, she never acts like she knows who she is, and she never gives any signs of competence. This story, like “The Guest” is an example of the main character’s identity being unknown to the reader making it impossible to have a solid understanding on the woman’s