(Hawthorne). So it is left to the reader's discretion to take the story according to one's own understanding because everything that happened there may possibly be a reality as the aim behind it could be to make Young realize the extent of wickedness in the world he lived in; and also to add him into the main stream of people to which he was oblivious before and thus he reaches what Easterly calls "spiritual maturity" (Easterly, 339)
. are an important factor in the plot, and as an emblem of heavenly faith their color gradually deepens into the liquid flame or blood of the baptism into sin" (Fogle 24)
Meanwhile, essayist Meghan Harmon believes that Hawthorne may have been inspired to create the macabre story through his impressions of the writings of Puritan minister and author Cotton Mather. Mather wrote about "…what he firmly believed to be the devil's work in Salem" (Harmon, 2011, p
Since one of the main themes is faith, it is interesting the Hawthorne lets Brown leave his beautiful young bride even though she urged him not to go. He feels guilty (according to Kallay) through the very act of leaving his wife because he "convinces himself to go on" (Kallay, 86) and justifies his launch into the dark unknown by thinking to himself: "After this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven" (Hawthorne quoted by Kallay, 86)
Since one of the main themes is faith, it is interesting the Hawthorne lets Brown leave his beautiful young bride even though she urged him not to go. He feels guilty (according to Kallay) through the very act of leaving his wife because he "convinces himself to go on" (Kallay, 86) and justifies his launch into the dark unknown by thinking to himself: "After this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven" (Hawthorne quoted by Kallay, 86)
J. Moores writing in the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology explains that Brown goes off into the creepy woods to "seek himself" and in doing so is seeking to locate "his lost/unwanted parts, the psychic energies he keeps locked in the dungeon of the unconscious" (Moores, 2005, p
Brown allows his experience in the forest to turn him away from the townspeople and especially his wife. Another critic, Mark Richard Barna notes, "To use a word descriptive of many people today, Goodman Brown became a cynic" (Barna, 1998)
Hawthorne writes, "His head being turned back, he passed a crook of the road, and, looking forward again, beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree. He arose at Goodman Brown's approach and walked onward side by side with him" (Hawthorne 293)
At first, the reader simply wants to believe the night is a dream, but when Brown returns to his village, he is a changed man. Critic Derek Maus notes, "Hawthorne, like Poe, is focusing on the internal tumult of the character at hand and, as later developments in psychology would demonstrate, the effects of hallucination can be every bit as strong as actual occurrences if they are believed to be real" (Maus, 2002, p
It is precisely his goodness that establishes the basis of his conflict when confronted with evil in his dream journey through the woods. Likewise, the author's choice to name Young Goodman Brown's wife Faith was equally deliberate, and probably because of its ambiguity in the dual role of proper name and a common noun that is intimately associated with matters of religious morality and is a synonym for goodness or virtue in human life (Fogle, 1952)
Young Goodman Brown is, in fact, a young man who is a good man according to the definition of goodness in his society. The protagonist's goodness as a person is crucial to understanding the relevance of everything that follows in his dream (Miller, 1991)
For example, to understand why his crops aren't growing well, Okonwo's father asks the Oracle of the Hill and caves for advice. The Priestess tells him that the reason for his bad crops is his own laziness and not because he doesn't have enough favors of the gods (Achebe, p 21)
The protagonist is also aware of confusing ideas, given that his wife Faith has "dreams and thoughts of the kind that sometimes she fears herself" (Hawthorne, 74). It is because of fear that Brown starts to see evil everyplace that he goes to in the forest (Ezghoul & Zuraika)
Both matters related to communal and domestic properties and life were related to Ani's will. The priest of earth also enforced the principles of behavior (Gassama & Saleh)
We also known that 'Young Goodman Brown' is a newly-wed who is concerned because he feels that marriage, and the carnality of the bedroom, are contradictory to his Puritanical Christian faith. The protagonist is also aware of confusing ideas, given that his wife Faith has "dreams and thoughts of the kind that sometimes she fears herself" (Hawthorne, 74)
As well, either Western gender roles are different in the tribe, or the role of the 'Goddess/God' surpasses these traditional gender roles, because Okonkwo must obey the Priestess. Some critics see interchanges of Okonkwo as demeaning of his masculinity (Irele)
There are individual ancestors of each village who are the sons of the initial ancestor (Gassama & Saleh). The clan is also a community of people with ancestors living among them (Wren, p 15)