Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown

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Symbolism in “Young Goodman Brown” The old adage “you really don’t know a person until you walk in their shoes” is really brought home to readers in Nathanial Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown.” What do people really do when they are alone and no one is watching them, and is this really the measure of one’s worth and integrity? Goodman Brown truly believed he knew his neighbors, his friends, teachers, pastors, and especially his wife. But all is not as it seems, and readers soon discover through a myriad of symbols that Goodman Brown is on a journey of self-scrutiny and is in the fight of his life to hold on to his Faith. It is through his use of symbols that Hawthorne reveals to readers that “Young Goodman Brown” is on the losing end of his quest, and every human being he thinks he knows actually has a false face and is hiding evil behind a façade of goodness and truth. While Hawthorne frequently uses names to highlight good people, he relies heavily on objects to suggest evil and Satanism. This is particularly emphasized when the staff carried by the old man or devil is thrown down onto the ground and “it assumed life being one of the rods which its owner had formerly lent to the Egyptian Magi” (388). In the Bible, those practicing evil magic could change their rods into serpents. In the same vein, the devil says in his sermon that “Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness” (392). Although Satan worship is never mentioned as such by Hawthorne, readers can interpret this as an obvious symbol of Satanism. Hawthorne also uses the color black colors to demonstrate to the reader the depth of Goodman Brown’s dilemma. Without describing the black-snaked staff, the staff would represent no more than an elaborate cane or walking stick. Each time Goodman Brown expresses his weariness and fatigue, the devil offers him the black

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