Blog #1 Nathaniel Hawthorne: “Young Goodman Brown”

Tamara Levy

While I was reading Hawthorne a few major themes grabbed my attention. Firstly Hawthorne’s play on words is quite amazing. When Goodman Brown cries out in the forest, “my Faith is gone,” this phrase can be interpreted in a few different ways. One way would be the literal understanding: Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith, is gone. He has found the pink ribbon that she was wearing when he last saw her. Something must have happened to her as the ribbon is present but it is not being worn by Faith herself.

Another way of understanding the term “Faith” in this short story would be to realize that when Young Goodman Brown says, “my Faith is gone,” he is referring to his actual faith in the goodness of humanity. We see that Goodman Brown believes his wife to have been involved in the communion in the forest. As a result, he loses all faith in humanity; if his very own wife is involved in sin, evil, and the devil, then how can he trust any other human being? It becomes clear later on in the story that this is exactly what occurs. Goodman Brown does not trust people after this adventurous night, and he spends the rest of his life being wary of those around him.

The word “Faith” could also be referring to Goodman Brown’s faith in G-d. After such a terrifying night, Goodman Brown is at a loss as to what to believe is truth and what is false and evil. He becomes entirely confused between reality, superstition, good, and evil. Consequently, he looses faith in G-d. He does not have any sense of direction and he is waging a constant battle within himself that ultimately results in his loss of faith in G-d. He gives himself over to the devil, “come devil! For to thee is this world given.” He now believes that there is no such thing as G-d and in reality the devil is in charge of the world. Thus, his “Faith (in G-d) is gone!”

            When writing short stories, or any type of literature, an author has to design his/her writings in a way that will appeal to the audience he/she would like to address. Hawthorne lived in an extremely devout Puritan community in New England and therefore his writings tend to be more religiously based. From the two short stories that Hawthorne wrote (and that we have read so far) I can see that Hawthorne seems to have incorporated a lot of symbolism in his writings. I think that in “Young Goodman Brown” Hawthorne is exploring the idea of purifying oneself internally. Young Goodman Brown goes on this journey—to an unknown destination—alone. Self examination is exactly this. One can engage in introspection only on one’s own. No one can do it for someone else. Additionally, the destination remains unclear. When a person engages in self purification and introspection, what the individual will find cannot be predicted. The results can be startling to even the person himself just as it was in “Young Goodman Brown.” Goodman Brown discovers to his utter dismay that his “faith is gone.” He realizes that despite the fact that he lives and immerses himself in such a religious environment, with faith and G-d all around him, he actually lacks the faith within himself. He even lives with “Faith” in the same house (in the form of his wife)! Goodman Brown’s self introspection ends tragically. After this adventurous night he then spends the rest of his life searching for this faith that he wishes he had, as he exclaims in the story, “But, where is Faith?” The fact that he lacks an internal faith eats away at Goodman Brown until his last moments on earth. He lives his life feeling constant despair as he lacks meaning in life and in his everyday actions, as seen by his claim that “for thee (the devil) is this world given.”

            I believe that Hawthorne may be attempting to convey an extremely ironic message to his fellow Puritans. Perhaps Hawthorne felt as if his fellow community members were so involved in their day-to-day rituals and religious services that they had forgotten what the actual point was. Maybe Hawthorne was trying to convince other Puritans to engage in introspection and see what they could discover about themselves. If they find that they are lacking “Faith,” then what, Hawthorne seems to ask, is the ultimate point of all the rituals. These “rituals” are depicted in the “Young Goodman Brown” story via the extreme example of the communion that Goodman Brown witnesses. To Goodman Brown he is the outsider watching the rituals taking place. The participants all seem to be truly meaning what they are doing, yet Goodman Brown cannot understand this can be so, when they all lack inner faith.

It is quite amazing how no matter what time period people live in, individuals are grappling with similar day-to-day struggles. A major part of Judaism involves introspection. Every “ritual” and day-to-day activity that we engage in has an explanation. Part of our Judaic studies education is to learn the reasons behind the many things that we do, in order so we don’t become lost in the actions and forget the ultimate purpose—to demonstrate our faith in G-d and bring us closer to Him. Perhaps Hawthorne was trying to point out a major flaw in the Puritan culture—that people become so involved in doing the rituals that they forget why they are doing them in the first place. People become so committed to the actions that the procedures turn into automatic habit and “Faith” and inner belief are never developed. Hawthorne is explaining how if an individual were to actually take a moment to stop and think he/she could possibly realize the frightening truth: that he/she lacks internal “faith” completely. If this occurs and one does not take the time to establish this inner “faith,” one has the potential to live out the rest of his/her life in “gloom,” as Goodman Brown does. Perhaps Goodman Brown was forced to live this way because of the Puritan mentality that one must just do and believe. Hawthorne may have been pointing out what he felt to be a major defect in the Puritan culture—they do not spend time on developing internal faith and instead demand it from every individual no matter what. As a result, those few thoughtful, introspective individuals, such as Goodman Brown, are then subjected to empty lives full of despair and doubt; they feel as if their actions are worthless and pointless. Perhaps Hawthorne was trying to ignite in the Puritans a desire to develop “faith” itself, instead of just performing the empty “rituals.”