ipl-logo

Loss Of Innocence In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

768 Words4 Pages

According to Irving Howe, “the knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable.” This quote pertains to the actions of the protagonist in the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The protagonist, Goodman Brown, a naïve young man, goes on a life changing journey where he gains knowledge of the people he looks up to, which in turn, makes him question their integrity. Throughout this journey he goes from seeing those he loves like they are faultless to seeing that even they make mistakes; thus Brown loses his innocence. As Goodman Brown gains knowledge, his beliefs and actions begin to change; therefore, his innocence begins to fade away and his life is never the same. Goodman Brown starts his journey, …show more content…

His family (just like anyone else’s) gives him his background and defines who he is; therefore, when the devil shows that even they sin Brown is distraught. Though Brown does not want to, he starts to believe the devil when he says, “I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans” (Hawthorne 2). In the previous quote it shows that not only his family but also others have followed him, so Brown will have to accept it or let it take over his life. Brown chooses the latter of the two. At this point Brown has lost his faith and is following the devil fully. He is missing his innocence because he is now knowingly choosing the path to destruction. Continuing he sees yet more horrible things then he could imagine have been going on around him: girls killing their children, women poisoning their husbands, and boys killing their fathers. Brown cried, “Faith! Faith!” ... “look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one” (Hawthorne7). In essence, this quote shows that Brown does not like where he is and wants to leave because he dislikes what he is

Show More
Related
1424 Words | 6 Pages

Brown has an errand to attend to and Faith doesn 't want him to go. Faith is afraid of the dark and she thinks something bad will happen to her. Brown tells her to pray and go to bed. Brown has no fear and Faith is afraid at this moment. Brown walks into the forest and meets an Old Man, who looks remarkably like Brown.

Read More
969 Words | 4 Pages

Passage #1 This quote shows a turning point in the story. The devil has been using methods of persuasion to make Young Goodman Brown feel isolated. Once he sees his catechism teacher, Goody Cloyse, he begins to feel isolated in the world which the devil has entrapped him in. In addition, he feels frightened because the devil has had influence on him indirectly through Goody Cloyse.

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

(pg. 453)” Young Goodman Brown is a man living in the puritan era who has a wife and family, and is deep in his Christian faith. Young Goodman Brown lived in a town that is all connected to through the local church. Early in the story Young Goodman brown would set out to meet a person who would later be labeled as the devil by one of the locals. Young Goodman brown would have a vision of everyone in his community that would show him their wicked sins.

Read More
476 Words | 2 Pages

Faith represents the conflict as a symbol of Goodman Brown’s faith. He finds Faith’s ribbon in the woods, which symbolizes the fact that she was in the woods as well and losing her purity. The outcome of the novel is hinted at when Faith is seen in the “Devil’s” arms. “[T]he wretched man beheld his Faith” portrays the fact that his faith is now gone and he has nothing left to hope

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

Hawthorne says, “Something fluttered lightly down through the air and caught on the branch of a tree” Faith’s pink ribbons symbolize purity. In the beginning of the story was Faith had her ribbons she was pure but at the end of the story when Young Goodman Brown saw Faith’s pink ribbon come down from the sky it represents how she succumed to evil and Hawthorne lost both his faith and his wife Faith. The third example of how Hawthorne uses symbolism to show the theme good versus evil in the story “Young Goodman Brown” is when the devil is telling Brown and Faith that they will have a new perspective of life, a life where everyone sins. In the beginning of the story Young Goodman Brown saw his family as godly and he saw Faith as pure but the devil shows him that his views are naive and the devil gives him the capability to see the dark side of everything and everyone.

Read More
1728 Words | 7 Pages

The Danger of A Walk With the Devil: The Consequence of Sin and Guilt in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” As Canadian author William Paul Young once said, “sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside.” In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown’s life and entire being is demolished by his sins, never to return to what it once was. Through a guilt-filled journey of sin, Goodman Brown struggles with his faith, his grasp on reality, but most importantly, life as he knows it. By losing everything, Young Goodman Brown suffers the ultimate punishment of lifelong pain and suffering.

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

Although he blames his evil and hypocrisy on others he leaves his faith first. He develops this thought in the allegory and in many symbols, particularly the sunset, the walking stick, and the path. When Goodman Brown say, "Of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee," he is saying in other words that he needs to be away from his wife Faith that night. “of all nights in the yea”' means possibly that he is home most other nights and that tonight is significant because he has something important to do away from

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

Sin will evade or persuade a person into allowing evil in men's and women's hearts, using honeyed words and trusted people against that person. Brown had possibly chosen to speak with the devil for something in return, but he starts to have second thoughts upon entering the forest. He never told Faith of his journey, only telling her that he must go despite her warnings and pleas. It's seen clearly here: “So they parted; and the young man pursued his way, until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons.” (1) Brown had just told his wife, Faith, that he was leaving for a journey in the night and would be back the next day.

Read More
893 Words | 4 Pages

In the two short stories, “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Prodigal Son,” by St. Luke there is a parallel struggle of faith. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown” is a very dark tale of mystery and deceit that surrounds a young man’s test of true faith in his battle against the evil one. In the parable of “The Prodigal Son,” Christ gives the reader a picture of God’s unfailing love toward His children and His ever constant surrounding presence. Faith is tested in each of these stories and the choice becomes to either succumb to this evil world, turn to God, or perhaps something else altogether. Although each story differs in climactic endings, both protagonists in each story reflect the struggle of one’s very soul by their reluctance to fully submit to God.

Read More
512 Words | 3 Pages

Goodman Brown enters the forest knowing of such evil, he states in the story “what if the devil himself should be at my very elbow” (Hawthorne 322). Goodman Brown sees the minister and Deacon Gookin as well as many other townspeople making their way into the dark forest towards the ceremony. At this time, Nathaniel Hawthorne is displaying that many people of all ranks in religious and governmental society are sinners despite their external appearance. He holds on to the thoughts that as long as Faith remains holy, he shall find it in himself to resist the temptations of evil, but when he sees the pink ribbons from Faith’s cap his Christian faith is weakened. Hawthorne is using Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, as a symbol of his own when he yells out “my faith is gone!”

Read More
1109 Words | 5 Pages

In his essay, Visible Sanctity and Specter Evidence, Michael J. Colacurcio illustrates how Hawthorne’s work reveals how “the Calvinist doctrine of election looks very much like the traditional sin of presumption” (393). The fact that Calvinist epistemology resembles the sin of presumption indicates that the notion of absolute certainty in of itself produces uncertainty. The first generation of Puritans, and those who followed, presumed they were God’s chosen people, yet in the same vein, they assert that God’s grace is not certain. Uncertainty then leads to a search for certainty; in certainty’s absence, there arises the path to the unpardonable sin, for there is no certainty without a singular, clear meaning to everything in the world. The

Read More
1098 Words | 5 Pages

The theme of “Young Goodman Brown”, specifically Brown’s distrust of his own self reveals Hawthorne’s belief that man cannot trust himself. Furthermore, though Hawthorne and Emerson were both

Read More
566 Words | 3 Pages

Brown reflect this when returning home from the forest and see Faith in which his reaction was “ But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without greeting” (70). He displays this further by “Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith, and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled, and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away.” (72) because his wife caused him to his loss of faith which he displays by not praying publicly or privately showing faith in

Read More
1297 Words | 6 Pages

The desires of humanity often reflect the temptations residing in the heart’s depths. Evil’s lure is a strong pull felt by all, regardless of the appearance put on through the conscious mind. In literature, temptation is explored thoroughly, especially in the short story, “Young Goodman Brown”. “The tale becomes in great part, thus, a record of temptation” (Pualits 578-579). The author of “Young Goodman Brown”, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804.

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

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!

Read More

More about Loss Of Innocence In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Related Topics

Open Document