Young Goodman Brown Questions and Answers
by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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• Young Goodman Brown
  If he seems to have so much contempt for religion why does not remove himself from it?
  Let me start by saying that "Young Goodman Brown" has a completely ambiguous ending. Readers are not sure if what Brown experienced in the woods was real or just a dream. Readers love to debate...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  By the end of Brown’s life in "Young Goodman Brown," he has become a reclusive, suspicious man who has lost his faith in his community. Why, then, might Hawthorne invite readers to view Brown as a hypocritical Puritan?
  The Puritan man was supposed to love his neighbors, go to church, keep his faith always, and contribute to the community in a meaningful way. However, as a result of Brown's experiences in the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What does Brown think faith (in God, in religion, in family, in community, in the self) is in "Young Goodman Brown," and how is his concept of faith corrupt?
  Goodman Brown thinks of faith completely in terms of black and white. For him, faith in God requires a person be utterly pure, as do all the other faiths mentioned: religion, family, community, and...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Why is Goodman Brown considered as a hypocritical Puritan in "Young Goodman Brown"?
  Puritan life is centered on religion. Puritans believe that one’s goal is to work hard and pray daily. It is important to live a pure life staying away from sin as much as possible. The biggest...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  In "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, which character is portrayed as the most villainous or sinful and why?
  In the woods, Goodman Brown hears a multitude of familiar voices coming from a cloud high above him. He can hear these voices all urging some lamenting young woman onward. These are the voices of...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Is the plot of "Young Goodman Brown" linear?
  The plot of "Young Goodman Brown" is linear and chronological. It is as if a video camera is following Goodman Brown step-by-step on his journey into the woods. The story begins with Goodman Brown...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  In "Young Goodman Brown," where does it seem like Young Goodman Brown is going? What word choices give this away?
  Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic tale "Young Goodman Brown" follows the mysterious journey of the apparently innocent title character through a dark and menacing landscape. As the story begins, the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  If the plot of "Young Goodman Brown" is linear and follows a chronological order, then do the instances where Brown thinks back on his past count as flashbacks?  
  You are correct in that the plot of this story does move in a fairly linear fashion in terms of its chronology. Goodman Brown leaves home, goes into the woods, meets with the Devil, attends a...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Discuss how Young Goodman Brown is affected by the experience in the forest. What does the experience itself reveal about him?
  Goodman Brown is deeply shaken by his experience in the forest. When he sees Goody Cloyse, his catechism teacher, deep in the woods, he wants to avoid her because he doesn't want her to know that...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What is Brown's motive in "Young Goodman Brown"?
  While we never learn exactly what compels Goodman Brown to go into the forest, we do know, at least, that his motives are not upright or pure. His new wife, Faith, all but begs him not to go that...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What is Brown's motive for going into the forest in "Young Goodman Brown"? What does he expect to find, and how does he expect the rest of his life to be?
  In Nathaniel Hawthorne's allegorical story,with the utmost confidence in the goodness of his society and in himself, Brown embarks upon his trek into the forest despite the protestations of his...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Compare the themes of "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Lottery."
  It is a little surprising that this question doesn't ask for you to compare and contrast the themes from the two stories. This seems to indicate that you are only looking for similar themes between...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  I need five events that happen in the story "Young Goodman Brown."    
  A lot happens in that story, which is amazing, because it is a fairly short story. I'll try and pick 5 main events that walk you through some of the highlights. Event one: Young Goodman Brown...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  At the end of my literary analysis of "Young Goodman Brown," good vs. evil. I need a works cited page—MLA, not sure how to.
  You can do this! MLA style is a way to format the sources you consult when you're writing a paper. It's a style guide created by the Modern Language Association. Like all style guides, it makes...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  How has the sin affected the people around Young Goodman Brown?
  After Young Goodman Brown keeps his appointed meeting in the woods, he begins to see the sins in people all around him. On his way back from his meeting, he speaks to the woman who taught him...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Brown declares that he has "lost his faith." Faith in what, exactly? God? Or something else?
  In the short story "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character, Goodman Brown, says goodbye to his young wife Faith and journeys into a dark forest. He does not explain clearly...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  How can I compare "Young Goodman Brown" with "A Rose for Emily"?
  Both Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" use Gothic overtones to explore the main character's place in society and their subsequent isolation from that society....

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• Young Goodman Brown
  My Thesis statement on young goodman brown is this; Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story of Young Goodman Brown is a reflection of the puritan faith as well as man’s conflict between good and evil. Now my question is what would be a good 3 statement...
  I believe that this question is asking for help on what the three supporting body paragraphs should be in order to best support the stated thesis. In my opinion, the thesis statement is solidly...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What would be a good thesis for a literary analysis essay about "Young Goodman Brown," and what  is a good outline for the essay?
  Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, Young Goodman Brown, is a classic allegorical Gothic Romance in which the author presents several themes such as loss of faith, loss of innocence, guilt, and good...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Why did Brown venture into the forest in "Young Goodman Brown"? What was his purpose? Do you, as a reader, need to know?
  In Nathaniel Hawthorne's celebrated short story "Young Goodman Brown," the protagonist leaves his young, innocent wife, Faith, to journey into the wilderness to engage in an "evil purpose." As...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Why is the setting important in Young Goodman Brown?
  Hawthorne purposely sets “Young Goodman Brown” in the middle of a dark Salem forest at night. This setting is used in order to underscore the characters’ descent into evil and to expose the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What is the relationship Hawthorne describes between good and evil and being human? What role does hypocrisy have in this relationship?
  This story suggests that it is human nature to be both good and evil. No one is completely good and no one is completely evil. Goodman Brown wants to be good, and he swears that after this last...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What is the moral or the lesson that we can take from "Young Goodman Brown"?
  Nathaniel Hawthorne makes it pretty clear what his story "Young Goodman Brown" is intended to illustrate. Everybody has a dark and evil side to his or her nature. Robert Louis Stevenson was doing...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What is the significance of this quote from "Young Goodman Brown"? The second traveler was about fifty years old, apparently in the same rank of life as Goodman Brown, and bearing a considerable resemblance to him. ... They might have been...
  As Goodman Brown travels through the woods, he meets a man that the narrator says could have been an older version of Goodman. “They might have been taken for father and son.” This statement is the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  How does Hawthorne illustrate hypocrisy of the Puritans in "Young Goodman Brown"?
  Irony, the contrast between what is expected and what actually happens or is said, appears in its different forms throughout Hawthorne's story, "Young Goodman Brown." In fact, even the title of...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Reflect on how the final scene with Young Goodman Brown on his deathbed clarifies or obfuscates what you initially thought the meaning of the story was. Be sure to pay VERY careful attention to the words used in the sections of the story you discuss.
  Goodman Brown is a pretty problematic guy. He lives in a Puritan community, apparently a Puritan (Protestant Christian) himself, and yet he plays fast and loose with his faith, symbolized by his...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What is a reflection on "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
  Hawthorne's well-known tale is a meditation on the nature of both good and evil. Perhaps the central question posed by the narrative involves how much of either of those concepts, especially the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Does Young Goodman Brown dream the witch’s coven, or does he actually witness it? How do you know? Does it make a difference in your interpretation of the story? What are some of the symbols Hawthorne uses?
  Hawthorne deliberately leaves this an open question and actually poses the question explicitly as part of his narrative. The purposeful ambiguity is typical of the literature of the period, in...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What actually happens at the end of "Young Goodman Brown"?
  At the very end of the story, Young (I guess he's not young anymore ) Goodman Brown dies. He is followed to his grave by Faith and by their kids and their grandkids. When they bury him in his...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  I need to rewrite "Young Goodman Brown" from Faith Brown's point of view.  Any ideas?
  If I had to write this, I would concentrate on how her life has been changed by the things that her husband experienced on that night. I would think about how Young Goodman Brown's attitudes...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  A "dark figure" says, "Ye had still hoped that virtue were not all a dream. Now are ye undeceived. Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness." What does he mean? Does Goodman Brown believe (or come to believe) that virtue is...
  The "dark figure" is the devil. He is trying to convince Goodman Brown that all people are secretly evil. He wants to sour Goodman Brown and turn him into a cynical and bitter man, so that he...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Does Goodman Brown commit adultery?
  Adultery literally refers to a married person engaging in the act of sexual intercourse with someone who is not their current spouse or partner. Goodman Brown does not engage in sexual intercourse...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  How do imagination and reality interact in "Young Goodman Brown"? I want it in a type of introduction.
  In one of Dean Kootz's novels, a character declares that "perception is reality" and in the case of the character Young Goodman Brown this is certainly true. A proud, sanctimonious character, who...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  I need help writing a 5 paragraph essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."
  An essay with five paragraphs usually consists of an introduction, three “body” paragraphs that include arguments and evidence, and a conclusion. The thesis is generally presented in the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What evidence in the story suggests that Brown’s journey into the forest represents a journey into his own heart in "Young Goodman Brown"?
  As is characteristic of Nathaniel Hawthorne, there is an ambiguity to his story, "Young Goodman Brown" that Hawthorne himself pronounces after Brown's experience in the forest: Had Goodman Brown...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What's the theme of "Young Goodman Brown"?
  The main message of the story Young Goodman Brown, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the fight between good and evil under the scope of detouring from one's faith and succumbing to the evils of life....

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What are some similarities (and differences) between "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birthmark"? What are some other intertwined themes between the two short stories?
  The main similarity between the two stories is the idealistic protagonists in each. In The Birthmark, Aylmer arrogantly believes that he has the skill to perfect in his wife what nature had left...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Why is Brown surprised that the man he met knows his grandfather?
  During Goodman Brown's journey into the forest to participate in the Black Mass, he comes across a man who resembles his father and the devil. The mysterious fellow traveler encourages Goodman...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  According to the summary of “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown witnesses “an evil ceremony that implicates his wife, Faith, in sin [and] he returns from the journey with blackness in his soul.”  Do you agree?  Does he already have “blackness in...
  Yes, I believe that Goodman Brown returns from the ceremony with darkness in his soul. The question is, as you have indicated, does he have the darkness in his soul before that time? I think that...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  How do the events of the Salem Trails of 1692 and King Philip's War relate to "Young Goodman Brown"?
  This short story is set in Salem Village, in Massachusetts, as we learn in the very first line. It takes place sometime after King Philip's War, which lasted from 1675 to 1678. The strange man...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What is the theme of "Young Goodman Brown"?
  Early in the story, the protagonist, a young man called Goodman Brown by his Puritan community at the end of the seventeenth century, leaves his home to go into the woods on some evil errand. We...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What made Young Goodman Brown change at the end of this story?
  At the beginning of the story, Young Goodman Brown is presented as a loving husband. He refers to his wife as "a blessed angel on earth" and is sad to have to leave her. Young Goodman Brown is also...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Are the people, objects, and events in Goodman Brown's adventure invested with enough consistent symbolic resonance to justify calling his episode in the woods an allegory? Consider Brown's wife, Faith, as an allegorical figure. What do you make...
  One of the lingering questions of the story is whether Brown dreams or lives the adventure in the forest. However, in the context of the themes of guilt and sin (and what it means to Brown...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Why does the author leave it unclear whether Goodman Brown's experience is a dream or real in "Young Goodman Brown"? How is this noted in the story, or what does the author state to explain why this part of the story is left unanswered or a...
  It does matter that Hawthorne leaves it in ambiguity. Hawthorne leaves it up to the reader to decide. Let’s say it was real. Brown went into the woods and learned that all those he thought were...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What does the author imply when he says that the staff assumed life in "Young Goodman Brown"?
  In Hawthorne's classic short story "Young Goodman Brown," Goodman meets the devil in the forest as he is traveling to the Black Mass. The devil, who assumes the appearance of an older Goodman...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Why is Brown's new bride "Faith" aptly named, according to the narrator?
  In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story "Young Goodman Brown," the narrator refers to Goodman Brown’s wife as "aptly named." The reason that she is “aptly named” is because she is both allegorically...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  Neither Hester Prynne nor Goodman Brown appear to be capable of believing wholeheartedly in the piety of the Puritan community. What experiences make them doubt the ideals of their religious neighbors?
  Goodman Brown initially appears to be a pious individual, but over the course of "Young Goodman Brown," it becomes clear that his faith is tied up in the faith of others in his community. While it...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What role does religion play in Brown's life before the "dream," during the "dream," and after he "wakes"?
  Prior to the dream, it is clear that Goodman Brown is a devout, pious Christian. When he leaves his wife, he instructs her to say her prayers. When he first meets the traveler-companion in the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  To what extent are we as readers asked to agree with the devil's speech about being "the nature of mankind"?
  In the story, Hawthorne presents sin as part of human nature, no one escapes it, not the minister, not the high members of society, and even not his wife Faith, whose very name symbolizes the...

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• Young Goodman Brown
  What signs do we see in the text of "Young Goodman Brown" that this destination is a frightening one on this particular night of the year?  
  One of the things about Young Goodman Brown is the way reality and dream interpenetrate. The story begins with Goodman Brown leaving on a mysterious journey; his wife, Faith, asks him not to go,...

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