Home > Young Goodman Brown Text > Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights

Young Goodman Brown | Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights

Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights

As you read “Young Goodman Brown,” take note of the following:

Theme:

Note how Young Goodman Brown learns that all people are sinners and what happens to him after gaining this knowledge.

Atmosphere:

Hawthorne's use of vocabulary gives “Young Goodman Brown” a strong sense of darkness and gloom.

Symbols:

  • Forest – a place of evil or temptation

  • Faith – both Brown's wife, who is pure and sweet, and his religious faith

  • Young Goodman – an implication of naïveté, piety, goodness, and righteousness.

  • Pink ribbon – child-like innocence and femininity

Unique Elements in Hawthorne's Story:

  • Hawthorne uses religious language that eventually leads to the Devil's meeting (catechism, covenant, ecclesiastical council, hymn, congregation, converts, altar, etc.).

  • The story itself implies that his narrative might be a dream. Whether Young Goodman Brown actually goes into the forest or dreams he does, the effect is the same.

  • During the journey, Goodman Brown gradually loses his innocence by gaining the knowledge that all mankind is sinful, which destroys the rest of his life.