The Influence of Society on the Young Goodman Brown Essay -- essays re

Nathaniel Hawthornes girlish Goodman dark-brown illustrates vividly how bon ton and culture quarter very(prenominal)(prenominal) much influence a persons smell out of identity and belonging, or in the case of Young Goodman brownness the overleap thereof. Being a puritan man in a nine that scorned the ways of witches and the devil, Young Goodman Brown grew up with a very pious outlook on livelihood. heretofore when it occurs to him to look at life a little bit differently, Young Goodman Brown receives more than he has bargained for. The journey he embarks on sheds a whole new dizzy on his society that not sole(prenominal) creates a essay in the midst of himself and his fellow men but also one in spite of appearance himself. From the reservoir of Hawthornes story a test of faith prevails. From the moment that Young Goodman Brown parts with his wife, Faith, to when they meet again at the heart of the forest, the very manner Young Goodman Brown has been taught his enti re life is at stake. Yet it is not so much Goodman Browns faith in God that is the concern but whether or not Goodman Brown feels he can trust anyone or anything he has ever come to love and believe in. Society has preconditioned him to think a certain way, hence through this journey Young Goodman Brown cannot deal with the new puritan life he witnesses. Since he is unsure of what his society is truly akin Goodman Brown is now incapable of knowing his place in society and knowing whom he really is.In an article entitled ethnical Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Stories Walter dress discusses how Young Goodman Brown swings out of time, paradoxically and almost deliriously senses his power, and consequently moves abruptly back to contemplate his cultural fate. It is up to Goodman Brown if, upon his return to his home, he will live with a resigned contentment at his place in the world or with an irreconcilable bitterness at his powerlessness (548). Young Goodman Brown go es into the forest at first with only a small expectation of what he is going to experience. Of his fellow Puritan society he sees the bad seeds as well as suppose men and women of the utmost regard. He sees virgin girls filled with reverence and innocence, and take down members of the church present at the devils ceremony. This causes Young Goodman Brown to question his entire upbringing and trust in his society. It creates... ...o into the forest. But he did therefore choosing to chance the event of seeing something he might neer would have wanted to see. But now it is too late and pitiable Young Goodman Brown has become a prisoner of his own take care for he is unsure of what is real anymore. Even on the day he died he was filled with gloom.The story of Young Goodman Brown presents a struggle with the clash of Goodman Browns cultural fate of being a Puritan and his mind that is exposed to unholy acts. He goes from a prisoner of only what his society has shown him to a priso ner of the fate to live in it even after he learns its potential evilness. By not succumbing to the sinfulness of his journey, Young Goodman Brown in turn succumbs to the struggle within his mind. He is trapped by taunting thoughts and allows his life to be command by the confusion that has caused him to forever question reality.Works CitedHawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. baseless Tales Random House, Inc. New York 1997. 181-196.Shear, Walter. Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three Stories. Studies in Short Fiction Newberry Fall 1992. 294. 543-49.