Young Goodman Brown - Book Report/Review Example

GOODMAN Using critical response techniques to assay the text of Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” the reader can form direct associations and impression of the text in his/her own understanding of the work that could be called intuitive or emotional. The reader must answer the question of interpretation relative to the story: when reading the text with the eyes, heart, and mind, what are the impressions that are selected? The pre-critical response is an initial and emotional reaction that intensifies or perhaps changes upon reflection, and this reaction is often complemented by the setting of the story, which brings about emotions of tension and reaction. The woods and nature through which the protagonist walks are described as dark and unnatural, and the evil of the wilderness is carried to extremes. The basic assumption of the current report is that through a combination of tone and setting, Hawthorne sets up a theme of growing unreality and sin in the work, in which Goodman Brown goes from a lucid, sane person, to a forever-changed witness of evil and sin. This response can be applied to the Hawthorne short-story quite easily, as it seems that Goodman Brown is also undergoing a sort of intuitive emotional struggle throughout much of his walk in the forbidding and unnatural woods. The story focuses more on the immediacy of these impressions than it does on the later evaluation and interpretation of them by its protagonist, who is seen to be effectively closed-off after his dream/experience. The initial response to Hawthorne’s short-story is one of curiosity. The reader wonders why young Goodman Brown is leaving Faith to undergo some mysterious journey into the night. The relatively comfortable sphere of the settlement community represented by their relationship is left behind when Brown enters the woods. Brown hides his intentions from both Faith and the reader, so it is effectively a mystery as to where he is going. This effectively draws the reader further into the story because their curiosity is piqued as to Brown’s destination. “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand!” Brown cries internally and mysteriously, “Methought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be don tonight. But no, no; twould kill her to think of it” (Hawthorne, p. 375). The protagonist heads off into the wilderness. Brown goes through the forest and grows scared. The reader is attuned to this because the forest is described by the author as a frightening and alien place in which ill is seen to lurk in the form of the devil. Brown meets the mysterious figure in the forest with his serpentine staff, and the reader is still under the impression that events are actually happening, despite an increase in the dream-like atmosphere of the story. The setting takes on surreal implications. And as the stranger continues to talk, the reader begins to see that he is some sort of personification of the devil, and the story grows more surreal and detached from reality as the duo moves further into the wilderness. There is a hallucinatory tone to the story at this point, especially as Brown sees all the people he knows in states of debauchery and evil. One feels empathy for Brown at this point because he is being shown horrible things that go against his innocent protestations, and reinforce the evil of human nature. The story becomes more surreal as Brown starts flying through the forest and then attends some sort of black Mass. All of the buried secrets of the community are coming out, and it is something that is going to haunt Brown for the rest of his life. He even loses the inspirational figure of Faith because she is also seen to be in sin in the wilderness of evil. In Hawthorne’s story, the woods and nature through which the protagonist walks are described as dark and unnatural, and the evil of the wilderness is carried to extremes. This makes the tone of the work make it seem like the woods are an oppressive environment, whereas ordered civilization means freedom. This response can be applied to the Hawthorne short-story quite easily, as it seems that Goodman Brown is also undergoing a sort of intuitive emotional struggle throughout much of his walk in the forbidding and unnatural woods. The story focuses more on the immediacy of these impressions than it does on the later evaluation and interpretation of them by its protagonist, who is seen to be effectively closed-off after his dream/experience in terms of being free to talk about it. For example, in the woods the atmosphere is oppressive: “With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. 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” (Hawthorne). The narrator is also increasingly closed-off and isolated from the good of society as he walks. “It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveller knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that, with lonely footsteps, he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude” (Hawthorne). As noted, it seems that Goodman Brown is undergoing a sort of emotional struggle of resistance throughout much of his walk in the unnatural woods and wilderness. The story focuses more on his impressions of resisting evil in the woods than it does on interpretation of these themes by Brown, who is closed-off after his dream/experience in terms of being free to talk about it; he resists talking about whatever vision of evil and Satan he has had. For example, in the woods the atmosphere is oppressive and is something that Brown has to resists, just as he has to resist the power of the Devil and evil forces. When I was reading this story, I wondered why young Goodman Brown is leaving Faith to undergo some mysterious journey into the night. The relatively comfortable place of the settlement community represented by their relationship is left behind when Brown enters the woods. Brown hides his intentions from Faith, so it is a mystery to me where he is going. This draws me further into the story because of my curiosity about Brown’s destination. He heads off into the wilderness which represents the evil oppression or release from resistance in Puritan society, from a religious view of freedom and resistance. As he walks, things begin to change all around him in a sinister way. All of the buried secrets of the community are coming out, and it is something that is going to hunt Brown for the rest of his life because he couldn’t resist knowing it, just like Adam couldn’t resist taking the apple from Eve, and Eve couldn’t resist taking it from the snake Devil. Brown even loses the inspirational figure of Faith because she is also seen to be in sin in the wilderness, which shows oppression being stronger than freedom and resistance to the Devil being futile. As the protagonist takes his walk in the woods, his soul comes to some realizations about society, and after his walk, things will never be the same. He has lost his innocence, and the loss of innocence is mirrored in the wild setting that Hawthorne chooses. Through tone and setting, the author sets up a journey for his protagonist in which he becomes a witness to sin and evil, and is changed forever by his experience. REFERENCE Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford, 1999. Read More