Young Goodman Brown

Written by Nathaniel HawthornePresentation by Chase, Logan, and Holly

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Born July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts

• During Hawthorne's childhood, he was shy and bookish, this molded his life as a writer

• Turned to writing after graduating from Bowdoin College

• His first novel was called "Fanshawe"

• Hawthorne's works were of Dark Romanticism

• Died May 19, 1864, at age 59

1Sunset at Salem

village

Pink Ribbons in Faith's cap

2 3

Dreary road, darkened by the gloomiest trees of the

forest.

Second traveler Gives YGB a

staffThat looks like a

Black snake

YGB meets the second

traveler

YGB hides because he is

embarrassed to be seen by the town leaders while with the

Devil.

45

6

The cloud disappears and

one of faiths ribbons fall from

the sky.

7

YGB returns to Salem Village.

9

When Goodman Decides to Hide....

• Goodman Brown decides to hide when he is in the woods because he would be ashamed to be seen by Goody Cloyse in the woods. This is similar to Genesis when they hid when they heard God coming, and they realized they had done wrong, and that they were naked. Adam and Eve were both ashamed and embarrassed.

Salem Village

• "Welcome, my children, said the dark figure, to the communion of your race. Ye have found thus young your nature and your destiny. My children, look behind you!"

• Where Young Goodman Brown lived, when he came back from his walk in the woods, to Salem Village, he was fearful and suspicious of the townspeople who lived there because he saw them meeting at the devil's. And from then on he was suspicious. Goodman didn't know if what he saw was factual or a dream, but in his heart, he was still suspicious of the townspeople, and he couldn't change that.

Pink Ribbons in Faith's Cap

• "But something fluttered lightly down through the air and caught on the branch of the tree. The young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon." "My Faith is gone!"

• To Goodman Brown, the pink ribbons Faith wore symbolized her purity and innocence. Pink is a feminine color with an equal mix of red and white. White represents purity, while red represents sin. And when Goodman Brown came back to Salem Village, and saw Faith's pink ribbons on the ground, he thought of it as Faith's loss of purity, and he was suspicious of her.

Goodman Brown• "And no harm will come to thee."

• Goodman Brown is a young man in his 20's. Who is very pure, trusting, and innocent. But falls under the spell of temptation, and finds out that everyone he knows is not what they seem, even the woman he loves most, his wife. He represents every young man at the time, who is trusting of others.

The Staff• "Come, Goodman Brown" cried his fellow

traveler, "this is a dull place for the beginning of a journey. Take my staff, if you are so soon weary."

• The staff symbolizes the devil. And the serpent on it represents evil. When Goodman was offered the staff, he refused, but when the man touched Goody Cloyse with the staff, she screamed "The devil!" This was like Goody Cloyse falling under the spell of the devil.

The Maple Stick

• "The moment his fingers touched them, they became strangely withered and dried up as with a week's sunshine."

• The importance of the maple stick that Goodman has is that the maple wood rots from the inside, therefore, still looking fresh and attractive on the outside, but ugly and nasty on the inside. Just like all of these people Goodman looked up to, he trusted them, whether they were Cathecists, or always sat in the front pew at church. They looked liked decent God-fearing people, somewhat flawless, but on the inside they were bad.

The Cloud

• "...and had lifted his hands to pray, a cloud, though no wind was stirring, hurried across the zenith and hid the brightening stars the blue sky was still visible, except for directly overhead, where the black mass of cloud was sweeping swiftly northward."

• While Goodman brown is praying, he looks up to see the blue sky, but right then, a dark cloud flies over, as this cloud passes over, he hears voices of familiar people, but the most familiar voice was that of his wife, Faith. This cloud symbolizes evil inside all people. Young Goodman Brown calls out to Faith, and she is gone, at this point, the cloud disappears, and one of Faith's pink ribbons float down from the sky.

Laughter• Throughout the short story, there was

times where Goodman experienced being laughed at, demonically. One particular time in the story where this happened, and stood out to me the most, due to its importance was when he was yelling for Faith when the cloud flew over, echoes in the forest were cackling and mocked him, yelling, "Faith! Faith!"

A Hanging Twig and the Coldest Dew

• "He staggered against the rock, and felt it chill and damp; while a hanging twig, that had been all on fire, besprinkled his cheek with the coldest dew."

• When Goodman Brown was walking through the woods the previous day, he stopped and rested, for longer than he expected and ended up sleeping for a while and had the elaborate dream about that evil and demonic church service. Where all the towns people were attending it and when he woke up, "A hanging twig that had been all on fire..." was now cold and dewy, therefore, YGB was asleep for awhile. Meaning this evil and demonic town was all a nightmare, and not reality.

That Fearful Dream• I think that this whole story was all a dream,

up until the part Goodman woke up. Where Goodman went out on a walk into the woods, and witnessed all of this hidden evil. This was all apart of his slumber until he woke up. Even his wife ran up to him, smiling when he went to the village, she wouldn't do that if he caught her at the dark ceremony. He couldn't change what he thought of these people now, wether what he thought was true or not.

Salem Village Church Service vs.

the Forest• The village church service was an evil, demonic, devil-worshipping ceremony where all the people Goodman trusted were attending.

• The woods is where he started to see people he respected throughout his village. These people, (the deacon, the minister, and Goody Cloyse) all appeared to be people of the cloth, but ended up being devil-worshippers.

• The forest, as well as the church service, both had very dark and evil themes, as the townspeople were on their way to that dark service.

YGB and the village changing

In the story "Young Goodman Brown," Brown returned to the village after his overnight stay in the forest. Both he and the village have changed. Brown never realized for sure if what he witnessed with the devil had been reality or a dream. He only knew in his heart and soul that he could no longer trust Faith, his minister, or the town's people of Salem. Brown was fearful and suspicious of the people he once knew to be good. He couldn't look at them the same way anymore after he saw them at the devil's ceremony. When Brown returned to town and saw Faith, "Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed without a greeting." Brown no longer had the "faith" and trust for Faith that he had before.

Gothic Convention In "YGB" one of the Gothic conventions is the presence of the supernatural. The supernatural character in this story is the Second Traveler, the devil. He relates to the devil because, he tempts Goodman Brown to continue into the forest even though he says he doesn't want to continue on the journey. Another factor of Gothic Convention in YGB is the use of separate worlds. The separate world in this story is the forest -- a "Dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest" which describes the road into the separate world, the forest. In the forest, Goodman Brown encounters darkness, loneliness, truth, and evil.

AllegoryThe story "YGB" is an allegory because it can be interpreted in both a literal and figurative way. For example, in the story, YGB's wife, Faith, represents YGB's faith toward his wife. He is not being faithful when he leaves her. The staff also has a literal and figurative meaning because it has a snake on it and a snake represents the devil. When the man touched Goody Cloyse with the staff, she screamed, "The devil!"

Moral of the Story

The moral of the story is that people aren't always what they seem to be.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

Human vs. Conscience, because, when YGB returns to town he doesn't know if the journey was reality, or if it was a dream. For the rest of his life he is in the darkness of truth.