Chris Raynor ENG 123 Professor Thomas 3/26/2015 Synthesis Essay #2 Flanner O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown both use life as well as right and wrong choices for the way we as Christians and non-Christians live in our daily lives and the steps we go through in order to reach salvation or eternal torment. “Young Goodman Brown” shows the journey of a young man and his journey through the woods to reach a place that we do not know about but soon will. After meeting a few people, he finds himself in what looks like a convert to witchery and evil. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” shows the vacation of a family to Florida and hardship of the family in what they go through during their ride
He hands Goodman Brown the staff because the old man sees he is growing weary from his travels. The old man is being interpreted as the Devil helping Goodman Brown down the path of evil (54). The “Devil” guides him on a journey of darkness both physically and mentally. Goodman Brown travels into the woods and comes upon many obstacles. Goodman Brown tries to convince the old man that his father and
His journey leads him to leave the village which is a place of light and security to the forest which is a place of darkness, dangerous and unknown destination. Brown's first step in the forest considers as a victory to the id over the superego. Brown's meeting with the old man who is the devil himself shows Brown's confusion; weather to believe the old man or not. The devil shocked Brown, when he told him that his father and his grandfather were a servant to the devil; he meant by that that is Brown's destiny too. Brown's believe that they are''…a race of honest men and good Christians… "has faded (Guerin, 303).
Before Goodman Brown left the house, Faith begged him to stay. The irony here is that when you have disbelief in something in your mind your faith is always going to tell you to stay. For example faith in a relationship, faith in your religion, or faith in your dreams or goals. When he was talking to the “old man” in the forest, the man asked him why he was late. Goodman Brown replied, “Faith kept me back awhile” with a scared tremor in his voice.
Goodman Brown: Recently married Puritan who lives in Salem in the 1600's. He believes in the goodness of the townspeople until he sees many of them attending a witches’ sabbath in the forest. Goodman is a title equivalent to Mister. Faith: Goodman Brown’s wife. The Devil Figure: Mysterious man who meets Goodman Brown in the forest and accompanies him part way to the witches’ sabbath, where Brown is to be inducted into an evil brotherhood.
Humanity’s Frail Resolve in Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown Young Goodman Brown is a young man living in the Puritan society of Salem in Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown.” He is curiously led by a peculiar old man into the gloomy forest where he witnesses dire deeds committed by the very people he has been in contact with his entire life. After the ordeal, Goodman Brown’s perception of the townspeople, his wife and himself have all been completely twisted. His resolve is easily shattered as he, due to his religious practices and beliefs, cannot comprehend a life with sin and treachery. Hawthorne’s story describes many weak points in human nature that may result in a loss of self-righteousness and dignity. These mishaps, whether they be intentional or not, may often cloud judgment, or lead into false hope or aspiration.
Charity Hamm Mr. Scholar American Literature 4th January 24, 2014 The Great Symbols of Goodman Brown turn Evil Goodman Brown is a great christian man , but in the story that you start to question it. You The story shows he is confronted with evil symbols that were once good. Symbols that include possessions of the devil and his wife, even the setting of the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story Young Goodman Brown includes symbols throughout that show this character turning from good to evil. The forest shows a symbol of evil throughout the story.
He hesitates in the forest and wishes to return to the village for Faith, because he loves his wife Faith dearly and wants to resume his faith in human beings and in God and his religion.” (Zhu) When we are introduced to these characters one already receives an accurate idea that this story is about faith itself. The next allegorical device that Hawthorn uses in Young Goodman Brown is the journey to the forest and the actual forest itself. Hawthorne was raised with a Puritan family, and Puritans believe the forest is ruled by the Devil. The actual journey to the forest could be the most important allegorical device in the entire
“Young Goodman Brown” “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne details the mysteriousness and misfortune of Goodman Brown’s numerous encounters with witchcraft and the devil. Goodman Brown comes face-to-face with a life altering experience when he meets a traveler on the road carrying a serpent staff, who leads him to a suspected witch by the name of Goody Cloyse. They resume their stroll on the road when Goodman Brown decides to take a rest on a tree stump. He ends up with the elder travelers staff, or so he thinks. It is very unclear as to whether his experience at the witch meeting was a dream, or reality.
In the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he uses the protagonist Young Goodman Brown as a vehicle to explore and examine critical aspects of the human condition: faith, good and evil, and the power of resolve. He constructs and employs clever charctonyms and symbolism throughout the text. A powerful internal conflict takes place while Young Goodman Brown travels through the forest. He discovers that his minister and the deacon of his congregation are travelling the same path as he is, with the same evil destination. After this faith rattling experience, “He look[s] up at the sky, doubting whether there really was a heaven above him.