Young Goodman Brown

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Young Goodman Brown

Introduction

           “Young Goodman Brown” is one well-known short story originated by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835. It is noteworthy to established that specific setting of 17th century Puritan New England greatly influenced the actual theme of this specific story. The focus of this allegorical story is to comprehensively present the aspects of goodness and evilness in case of human nature. Brown Goodman and Faith are the main characters of this story that indicates about the perspective of truth and evil in someone’s life. It is interesting to examine Goodman’s encounter the two major realities of life in the form of truth and evil. The truth discovers Brown discovers during his night in the forest eventually makes it essential for him to observe the other side of reality. The Detail explanation of events crafted by the author in the story indicates that the revealing truth in the forest ultimately concerned with his gloom and withdrawal. This paper focuses to critically develop the argument that the specific truth explored by Brown during his night in the forest justifies his gloom and withdrawal. 

Discussion

           There are many momentous symbols used by the author to present the main idea of the story to the audience. Undoubtedly, a fight between right and wrong is the reality of every person that illustrated through the actions and aspirations of Brown Goodman. It is crucial to figure out how an individual’s faith is completely shaken by the unexpected reality of life. This specific story can be characterized as allegory or simple memory of a dream for Brown that greatly impacts his faith. It is argued that the harsh truth explored by Brown during his stay in the forest ultimately linked with his domains of gloom and extraction in a great manner. 

           Brown’s experience in the forest was his approach to identify the reality of evil that prevails in case of every individual. His encounter with evil eventually turned as gloomy life for him due to the harsh reality of sinful domain. Like every other individual, Brown Goodman has the instinct of evilness in his personality that appeared in the form of different events in the forest (Jacobs, 46). Identification of evil turned Brown’s life as gloomy as he starts considering things and actions in a different way. The author of this story explicitly indicated through the character of Brown that evil is the reality of every individual and awareness of this approach turned as gloomy life for the people. Awareness of evil on earth makes it difficult for people to live their life without any gloom or regret. 

           It is critical for Brown to experience events in the forest to differentiate between evil and truth on this earth. The knowledge of evil ultimately turned Brown down as he was never able to live with the same perspective before the approach of the night in the forest. Brown Goodman start severely antagonized with life because events in the forest eventually changed his opinion about this world and the inhabitants of Salem village. The reality of these events and their awareness become the reason of miserable and gloomy life for Brown. The changing approach of Brown after his memory of dream or allegory is the actual reality of gloom and withdrawal that happened due to his stay in the forest and witnessed the unexpected reality of different people. 

           Different mystical events illustrated by Hawthorne in the story that were witnessed by Brown that ultimately cause the rest of his life gloomy and doubtful. Black cloud mass is one example of a supernatural happening that enhances the approach of gloom and withdrawal for Goodman Brown for the rest of his life. He heard voices of pious people from an evil place that encourage Brown to believe that all people he knows are evil and have no goodness. This sort of thoughts and anticipation clearly defined his actual approach of gloom and withdrawal. The inner approach of evil encouraged Brown to believe that all people he knows are evil and this feeling causes great gloom for him. His reality of gloom and withdrawal is established by the author as: “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind.” (Hawthorne, 25). 

           The discovery of truth by Brown in the forest become the reason of his gloomy life afterward. Identification of the reality of evil made him a gloomy person who was never willing to trust anyone even his wife, Faith. Gloomy life becomes his reality because he was no longer able to live happily with the people he knows with the new perspective of evilness. Unfortunately, he never able to trust people of the village as good friends or even good Christians. Falling ribbons of his wife is another example of an event that indicates his reality of gloom and withdrawal. This specific event made him believe that his wide is also part of evil and he can never trust his wife. 

 Conclusion

           To conclude the critical discussion on the judgmental approach of Brown Goodman, it is vital to indicate that the gloomy and disappointing reality of himself compelled him to think negatively about the reality of others. He easily deceived by the dark reality of forest that demonstrated the evil side of humans. This specific exploration is the reason for gloomy and withdrawal for Brown because he was not ready to accept the actual reality of life. 

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Hawthorne, N. Young Goodman Brown and Other Short Stories. Dover Publications, 2012, https://books.google.com/books?id=eY28AQAAQBAJ.

Jacobs, Laurie Anne. “The Depths of Allegory in Hawthorne’s" Young Goodman Brown".” IU South Bend Undergraduate Research Journal, vol. 5, 2002, pp. 44–47.