Young Goodman Brown in the Story \"Young

Young Goodman Brown

In the story "Young Goodman Brown," much of the story is centered on Goodman Brown and his struggle to use his faith to suppress his evil impulses and his internal doubts. This struggle is undoubtedly a representation of some of the same struggles that Nathaniel Hawthorne must have faced within his own life in which he embraced the Puritan way of life and its beliefs. Given Hawthorne's background in the Puritan way of life, the story is filled with clear demonstrations of the author having an intimate knowledge of Puritanism as the main character deals with his own struggles of good and evil.

Goodman Brown believes that he is of good character and is from a family of good men. The devil directly challenges Brown's self-perception however and claims that his family members were among those who committed acts such as burning witches or destroying Indian villages. When Brown enters the forest he is fearful of everything around him. The Puritans believed that you cannot trust anyone or anything because the devil might always be manipulating the situation and therefore doubt was always present in the Puritan lifestyle.

In a long a winding walk through the forest, Goodman sees many images that make him question his faith and his preconceived notions of the world. Although he felt confident at the beginning of the journey that he could refuse temptation, as the journey progressed his confidence began to erode. The journey down the path was a long and tedious path in which Goodman had much time to think. This is representative of the same journeys each individual must take with their faith. It is difficult to accept the teaching of others on faith alone and individuals must come to their own conclusions about their own beliefs; often they will be surprised as to fragility of the assumptions that they held.