The Lack Of Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

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Chris Dixon EN 102 Ms. Elizabeth Faucett 17 September 2014 The Lack of Faith in “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” portrays what can happen when you lack faith in your everyday life. The spirit of anger, the lack of trust in others, the lack of trust within yourself, and failing to believe that God can do anything and keep you free from danger in your life are common results that should inform the reader of what lacking faith can cause. These characteristics are developed, as Young Goodman Brown’s experience in the woods and at the ceremony result in his anger and lack of trust toward his Puritan community, causing his loss of faith in God and others. Young Goodman Brown distances himself from his faith when…show more content…
Young Goodman Brown accepting the offer to use the staff shows a sign of how he lacks awareness and how easy it is to give into temptation. Young Goodman Brown had a choice of freedom by turning and heading back home. As he sits in the forest, he starts to hear horses and voices headed towards the ceremony. Unable to recognize this freedom, he ironically traps himself in despair as he swings between illusion and disillusion (Jamil 145). And, maddened with despair, so that he laughed loud and long, did Goodman Brown grasp his staff and set forth again, at such a rate that he seemed to fly along the forest path rather than to walk or run (Hawthorne 6). This shows that Young Goodman Brown is failing to realize the deceitful representation of the…show more content…
This was proof of what evil and deception that he experienced in his dream did to his mind. And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom (Hawthorne 9). This meant that Goodman Brown is going to spend the rest of his life in doubt and disbelief. Nathaniel Hawthorne teaches a reader about what can happen when an individual’s faith is lost. It also informs the reader that giving into temptation never has a good outcome and will always lead to deadly consequences. This story also carries a message that only the strong will survive in the midst of one’s struggles, God’s love will never fail, and an individual should always look to him for protection and guidance against all

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