Name: Nigel Martin

College English I

Answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. What does the staff represent? Do you think the staff leads Brown onward in his
journey or does Brown’s own conscience/mind lead him forward? What might this
say about Hawthorne’s view of Satan? For example, would Hawthorne say that Satan
leads us to do evil or are we perfectly capable of leading ourselves into evil?
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2. Hawthorne states that Brown’s wife is “aptly named,” Faith (i.e., her name fits her
personality). After reading the story, do you agree? How does Faith represent
“faith”? Does Brown have true “faith” in her?
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3. Who do you think the old man Brown meets on the road really is? Look closely at
the words used to describe him. What do they signify? Why is it significant that the
man on the road looks so much like Goodman Brown?
- The old man that young goodman brown meets on the road is the devil. Brown
knew the moment he was going to the journey he knew that he was doing
something wrong and then he meets up with the traveler who is clothed in the
grave and decent attire and as the traveler gives brown a clear indication in
where there was something mysterious about him because he said the
following to brown, “You are late Goodman brown, the clock of the old south
was striking , as i came through boston and that is full fifteen minutes gone.”
He made himself look like an older goodman brown in order to help ease
young goodman brown who is clearly uncomfortable with what he is doing.
4. How does “Young Goodman Brown” exhibit characteristics of Dark Romanticism?
Provide three examples along with textual evidence to support each one.
- Dark romantics present individuals as prone to sin and self destruction such
as the reader not knowing where browns is journing or why he is in that
journey and also we never knew the name of the elder person or why he looked
like browns old father. Hawthorne also never specified if the brown experience
was a reality or just a dream also bh the end brown is unsure of his belief in
god and he doubts that heaven is real. Goodman brown portrays nature or the
forest as more sinister. Textual evidence to support this example are: that
goodman brown several times mention that his faith is gone he clearly feels
abandoned by god and left to figure things out on his own, Goodman Brown is
constantly remarking "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." He is consistently mentioning
how dark and mysterious the forest is and ​At the end of the story, Goodman
Brown cannot make himself better. He is forever changed by the event and no
matter how hard he tries, he cannot make the change.

5. Which aspects of this tale which remind you of "Rip Van Winkle"? How would you
compare and/or contrast the two stories in their responses to nature? Their portrayal
of women? Their moral concerns?
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6. Describe the ending of the story. On what basis does the narrator say of Brown,
“his dying hour was his gloom”? What was Hawthorne’s purpose in writing “Young
Goodman Brown”? How might this story reflect Hawthorne’s views on Puritanism or
religion in general?
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