Essay on Loss of Faith in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown

Young Goodman Brown:nbsp; Loss of Faith nbsp; Faith can be defined, as a firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Young Goodman Brown is about a man who leaves his wife, Faith, at home alone for a night while he takes a walk down the road of temptation with the devil. Along the road he sees many people that he would never expect to see on this road, his wife included. He returns to his life in Salem a changed man. In Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism and characterization to imply that when individuals lose their faith in the goodness of mankind, they may begin to imagine that their peers have yielded to temptation. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Hawthorne†¦show more content†¦He exclaims, My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! For to thee is this world given(217). Goodman Browns faith in humanity is completely destroyed. He concedes the earth and all mankind to the devil. At the end of the story Hawthorne shows that Browns love for his Faith is damaged forever: ...he shrank from the bosom of Faith, and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled, and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife and turned away(221). The journey had changed Browns relationship with Faith, because it changed his faith in mankind. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Hawthorne uses characterization to imply that when individuals lose their faith in the goodness of mankind, they may begin to imagine that their peers have yielded to temptation. The journey through the woods changes Browns thoughts about the goodness of mankind. When Brown first meets the other man on the road he is ready to end his journey quickly. Brown says to his companion, My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians...(213). Clearly he thinks he is the first of his family to walk down the road of temptation. He feels that all of New-England society would react negatively to anyone on the road: ...the least rumor of theShow MoreRelatedEssay on Loss of Faith in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown1058 Words   |  5 PagesLoss of Faith in Young Goodman Brown      Ã‚   In the Bible, God commands Moses to go up Mount Sinai to receive divine instruction.  Ã‚  Ã‚   When he comes back, his people, the Israelites, have gone crazy.   They have forgotten Moses, and forgotten their God.   They form their own god, a golden calf, and build an altar.   They even had a festival for the golden calf.   Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and sat down to indulge in revelry (Exodus 32:6).   Moses then went down the mountain and got soRead MoreYoung Goodman Brown964 Words   |  4 PagesJune 2013 Essay Assignment One: Reader-Response Criticism Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† is a short story in which the author attempts to convey several different messages or themes throughout the literary piece. 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Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 III. Loneliness through incompletion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4 IV. Incompletion