Young Goodman Brown is about a young man’s journey into a forest where he apparently witnesses the sacrifice of his young wife Faith. In a well organized essay compare and contrast the tone at the beginning of the story (page 1) with the tone at the forest Sabbath (6-7) and at the end (8) when Goodman Brown returns home. How does Hawthorne use tone, imagery, figurative language, and diction to develop his critique of Puritan ideas and human nature, his ideas of good vs. evil and the relative nature of sin?
Organize your essay by style device.
Use a concrete, analytic thesis that discusses the purpose of the two passages.
Be concrete, don’t say diction develops tone.
Rather: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown critiques the destructive Puritan belief in absolute evil and sin by showing how Brown, happy and pleased with his wife Faith at the beginning of the story, deteriorates in everlasting gloom after he witnesses or dreams of a witch’s Sabbath where his wife is apparently sacrificed. The language and imagery of the story becomes darker and more diabolical as Brown plunges into his allegorical hell. (Or something like that)
Background stuff
It is impossible to read much of Hawthorne without realizing that what interested him perhaps more than anything else about human beings is our capacity for evil, our capacity to act out the part of Satan. His novels and stories are filled with characters such as Ethan Brand of "Ethan Brand," Goodman Brown of "Young Goodman Brown," Reverend Hooper of "The Minister's Black Veil," Dr. Heidegger of "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," and Professor Westervelt of The Blithedale Romance who are portraits of human darkness.
referecnce:http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/page/10019/
The Forest as Eden
Goodman Brown appears to represent human beings confronted with temptation–that is, he wishes to enter the dark forest of sin, so to speak, to satisfy his curiosity about the happenings there and perhaps even to take part in them. The man who meets Brown in the forest appears to represent the devil; his staff is a symbol of the devil as a serpent. Thus, we have Adam (Brown, curious to learn forbidden knowledge) facing the serpent in the Garden of Eden. It was, of course, a tree–the Tree of Knowledge–that enticed Adam. Goodman Brown is enticed by an entire forest. Like Adam, he suffers a great fall from innocence. Faith appears to represent Brown’s religious faith and his faith in others; her pink ribbons stand for innocence.
Primordial Symbols
Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) theorized that all humans share certain inborn impulses and concepts residing in the mind at the unconscious level. For example, all humans react to sunlight in the same way, perceiving it as a symbol of joy, happiness, glory, optimism, truth, a new beginning, or God. Likewise, humans associate dark forests (like the one in "Young Goodman Brown") with danger, obscurity, confusion, and the unknown or with evil, sin, and death. Jung termed external stimuli (such as dark forests) primordial symbols–primordial meaning existing from the beginning of time. Examples of other primordial symbols you may encounter in your study of literature include the following: a river (the passage of time), overcast sky (gloom, depression, despair), lamb (innocence, vulnerability), violent storm (wrath, inconsolable grief), flowers (delicacy, perishability, beauty), mountain (obstacle, challenge), eagle (majesty, freedom) the color white (purity, innocence), the color red (anger, passion, war, blood), the color green (new life, hope), water (birth or rebirth), autumn (old age), winter (death).
Themes
Theme 1
How the Puritans’ strict moral code and overemphasis on the sinfulness of
humankind foster undue suspicion and distrust. Goodman Brown’s experience in
the forest–whether dream or reality–causes him to lose his faith in others and
die an unhappy man. Note the last words of the story: “They carved no hopeful
verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.”
Theme 2
The realization that evil can infect people who seem upright. Goodman
Brown discovers that even highly respected people in Salem fall victim to the
forces of darkness. Today–when corporate executives cheat stockholders,
politicians lie to win elections, and members of the clergy defraud their
congregations–this theme still resonates.
Theme 3
One man’s virtue is another man’s sin, and vice versa. “There is no good
on earth,” Goodman Brown observes, “and sin is but a name.” In other words,
whether an action is good or evil appears to depend on who is viewing the
action. The zealotry of a Puritan punishing a wrongdoer–like Goodman Brown’s
grandfather lashing “a Quaker woman so smartly through the streets”–might be
praised as a just act by another Puritan but condemned as an inhumane act by
non-Puritans. These opposing views of the same action seem to confuse Brown; he
is like a modern man who is told that “everything goes” or that one moral
position is as valid as another, opposing one. There are, of course, absolute
moral values which should prevail for everyone, regardless of their religion or
lack of it. For example, murder is always wrong; child abuse is always wrong.
However, the devil figure succeeds in confounding Brown on what is truly right
and what is truly wrong.
Dream vs Reality
Hawthorne leaves open to question whether Goodman Brown’s experience is real or imagined, as in a dream. Keep in mind that normal, mentally stable people–like you or those around you–sometimes accept delusions, fantasies, or fabrications as real events. Keep in mind, too, that they sometimes see evil in a person who has done no evil.
Brown as a Thrill-Seeker
It is reasonable to interpret “Young Goodman Brown” in ways other than those already mentioned. For example, Brown could represent an archetypical Ulysses or Faust figure whose curiosity prods him to seek knowledge or, like modern adventurers and thrill-seekers, undergo “extreme” challenges. It is also reasonable to interpret the short story as a tale of rebellion against established beliefs. Like young people today–who, refusing to be cast in the philosophical or theological mold of their parents or friends–explore various ideologies and dabble in nihilism. Brown may have wished to venture into the forbidden zone, into terra incognita, to discover the world and its ideas for himself.
There is little doubt that Nathaniel Hawthorne's
interest in the Puritan mistreatment of Quakers and the later persecution in
Salem of those accused of witchcraft during the terrible summer of 1692 grew out
of a personal sense of involvement in these dark chapters of Salem history.
Hawthorne's ancestor, William Hathorne was instrumental in the scourging of
Quakers during the 1650's and William's son, John, was among those who sat in
judgment of those accused of witchcraft almost forty years later. Shy and almost
reclusive, Hawthorne may have felt a special kind of empathy for those so
publicly and unjustly tormented and may have felt a peculiar and disagreeable
connection to those early members of his family who were partly responsible for
that torment.
Steps for completing a Timed Writing
1. Read the topic several times. Underline and circle the important words and the assignment exactly. Make sure you understand all parts of the assignment. As you write your paper, refer to the topic several times and make sure that you are writing on topic. The biggest mistake students make is they misunderstand the topic or write on only part of the assigned topic.
2. Pay attention to the verbs in the topic. Are you supposed to analyze, discuss, compare, contrast, describe, prove, etc.?
3. Read the passage slowly and carefully. Underline, circle and make margin notes about important information which relates to the topic. Regardless of the essay topic, your essay must show that you have a thorough understanding of the passage.
4. Watch your time. You will have only 40 minutes for AP Timed Writings.
5. Make a brief sketch of an outline or cluster. Plan for at least three paragraphs. Develop a thesis statement which advances the topic. Do not just restate the topic in your thesis. Within your thesis statement, use the author’s last name and the title of the passage (if known).
6. You do not have time to craft a beautiful introductory paragraph. Instead, write the thesis statement and a couple of good sentences to lead in to your thesis in the opening paragraph.
7. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence which relates to the thesis. Within the paragraph, prove your point with specific examples from the text and connect the text to the topic with your own analysis. In other words, state what the other does in the text or shows in the text, and then explain why the author does this or what this information shows.
8. Use transitional phrases to make your paper flow and to connect thoughts.
9. Write in ACTIVE voice.
10. Remember: State, prove or support (with examples and quotations) and analyze. Your grade will suffer if you leave out one of these components.
11. Read the topic again and make sure you are writing on topic. If you have wandered off topic – get back to the topic.
12. Close the paper with a conclusion which restates the main points of the paper and provides closure. If you run out of time before you finish the conclusion, just write a one sentence conclusion. It will hurt your grade very little because you simply do not have time to write a good complete essay in 40 minutes.
13. Watch the tone of your paper. Generally, the topic will require a serious, dignified response. Avoid sarcasm and humor unless the topic lends itself to these tones, and, even then, use humor and sarcasm only if you can do so skillfully without belittling the writing process or your reader.
14. Write neatly. If you make a mistake, place one line through the mistake (Don’t blot it out) and keep writing.
15. Even if you are not finished with the essay, stop early so you have a couple of minutes to proofread the paper carefully.
16. As the semester progresses and you complete additional timed writings, you will find that Timed Writings will be much easier to complete. You will then have time to work on some of the skills that will greatly improve your papers:
A. Incorporation of more sophisticated and varied vocabulary
B. Sentence variety (both in the order of your words, in the length of your sentences, and in the types of sentences)
C. Additional specific examples and analysis from the selection to support your thesis
D. Interesting rhetorical strategies which will make your writing more compelling.
E. Better introductions which capture your reader’s attention immediately
17. After you write each timed writing, evaluate your own work. Find out what you did well and what you need to improve for the next paper.
18. Read essays from other students and see what you can learn from others.