Toni Northern

XXII.
the Creepy Brilliance of Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Young Goodman Brown


This is one of my favorite short stories because story successfully gives the reader a realization of how tricky the Devil can be. In short, Young Goodman Brown his travels on an errand to a destination in the evening and encountered thing but ultimately comes upon a dark ceremony that he and his wife must be initiated into, his wife is initiated as he calls to Heaven for strength and to resist and then the incident disappears. Based on the story I have several theories. The story starts on the premise that it could be a dream or it could be reality. The Devil saw the inability to ruin Young Goodman Brown's faith in God, but he could ruin his life, ruin his faith in his relationship with wife, and his peace of mind. The event symbolized an ultimatum; live in a life of evil and be happy or live in sorrow with your faith in God. The possibility that it happened or didn't, contributed to the turmoil he felt because of the event. The sneaky and evil portrayal of the Devil’s influence in this story is pushed to the back of Young Goodman Brown's mind and the reader's also. In that the reader may actually believe that they just read the truth about this town and his wife. In the end of tis experience that could have been real or a dream, his life was torn apart by the Devil's influence, and also by himself because of his own uncertainty and feelings about what he experienced. Brown never really could be sure it happened or didn't happen, then again, neither can the reader which makes this such a great short story.