Comparison Andcontrast of Young Goodman Brown and a Good Man Is Hard to Find.

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Jodi Todd Jeremy Bearden English 102 February 24, 2014 In both of the short stories “Young Goodman Brown” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” literary allusions to the Bible are a strong element of fiction. Both of the authors incorporate allusions in ways that make it interesting for the audience to read. Despite the fact that in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “ Young Goodman Brown” and Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” both share strong allusions to the Bible, the differ in terms of the ways that the characters change in the stories and the characters that change in the stories. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown’ is a story about a man who takes a walk in the woods with the Devil. He leaves his house one night after dark and as he goes into the woods he “beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire sitting at the foot of an old tree” (391). The man is said to look a lot like Goodman Brown, which could suggest that every person has the capacity to do evil. Hawthorne also implies that the Devil is an embodiment of all of the worst qualities of a man. As they walk through the woods Goodman Brown starts to see people that he has known for his whole life and it makes him question how good these people are. Among them are his old Sunday school teacher, Goody Cloyse whom the Devil reveals is a witch. In Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” The Misfit in an escaped serial killer who is lurking around in Florida. The Misfit questions all of the meanings of life and the role that he plays in it. He has a steady view of life and acts on what he thinks is right. His “ankles were red and thin”(580), O’Conner has fun with this allusion in that she portrays him as having devilish ankles. When he comes upon the accident he talks to the grandmother and says to her “ I was a gospel singer for a while”(582). This also is an allusion

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