Young Goodman Brown Correct Report - Rodriguez 1 Natalie...

Rodriguez 1
Natalie Rodriguez
Other Panel Members: Sarah Arreola, Matthew Atrach, Angel Ojeda, David Orduna, Paulina
Sanchez, and Jovany Zepeda
Engl. 1A Summer Bridge 10:30 - 1:20
July 3, 2018
Audience: Puritans and similar religious groups
Summary of Nathaniel Hawthorne: “Young Goodman Brown”
In “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the protagonist encounters a
series of events that question his perception about the goodness in people as well as his own
wife, Faith, as he ventures through a forest. Young Goodman Brown journeys into the woods and
meets with an unnamed traveler. This traveler is revealed to be the devil, and he attempts to
persuade the protagonist to join a group dedicated to devil worship. Goodman Brown refuses the
persuasive attempts and instead focuses on returning to his wife. Left alone in the forest, the
protagonist finds evidence of the presence of his wife. In desperation, Goodman Brown grasps a
maple stick given to him by the devil. He then finds himself at the devil-worship gathering,
dismayed by the hypocrisy of his community. Before his baptism, the protagonist pleads with his
wife to resist the devil, for Brown suddenly finds himself alone in the forest. Young Goodman
Brown becomes a distrustful and despicable man as a result of the event. The story ends with the
death of Brown. However, his tomb is left without a hopeful message (Hawthorne 01-13).
1. Does it suspend disbelief? Definition: Believability of the story.
In the beginning, Young Goodman Brown claims “. . . as she spoke there was trouble
in her face as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done to-night” (Hawthorne 1). This
completely suggests that the whole story could have been a nightmare or a figment of Brown’s
imagination. Nearing the end of the narrative, the author clearly states “. . . it was a dream of evil

Rodriguez
omen for young Goodman Brown . . . a desperate man did he become from the night of that
fearful dream” (Hawthorne 12).
In regards to realistic dreams being a possibility, the devil’s appearance also suspends
disbelief in the story. A common belief amongst religious people is that the devil can be
disguised as anything as well as anyone to further tempt a victim into evil. The narrator hints the
devil has appeared as the old man when Goodman Brown nervously utters, just before the older
traveler surfaces into the scene, “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!”
(Hawthorne 2). The old man is also described carrying a staff that heavily exemplifies a serpent,
a common symbol that is mentioned in the story of Adam and Eve when referring to the devil.
Suggesting the story is rational through Brown’s nightmares, witchcraft also suspends
the disbelief in the anecdote. During the Puritan timeline, women were constantly accused of
witchcraft, resulting in the Salem Witch Trials that also occurred in Massachusetts. Historians
claim the people of Salem experienced mass hysteria, proposing Goodman Brown could have