Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” is among the most significant pieces of American literature. The work utilizes a variety of literary techniques to convey its message and provide context, on the characters, the environment they live in, and the depths of their fall to sin. Above all, Hawthorne’s use of themes and symbols provides the reader with a dark yet captivating open ending.
Foreshadowing
The story takes place in Salem Village and revolves around Goodman Brown and Faith, who have been married for 3 months. The first instance of foreshadowing in the narrative occurs in the second paragraph when Faith begs Goodman Brown not to leave her alone for the night out of fear for what she could dream of. The Old Man claims to have helped Brown’s father whip a Quaker woman in the Salem streets, and his staff is compared to a serpent. The Old Man symbolizes the Devil, and he laughs when Brown mentions the minister, as he knows he is a Devil worshiper. Goody Cloyse is a revered Salem Puritan who taught Goodman Brown his catechism and was close to his father. The minister and the deacon go to the Devil worshipping ceremony when Brown sees them in the woods. Brown thinks Faith is gone when he sees her lose her pink ribbons.
The meeting is a Devil worshipping ceremony, and it takes place in a forest clearing, with the trees set on fire, with an unholy preacher, whom Brown sees as his father. The proselytes include the minister, Deacon Gookin, Goody Cloyse, Martha Carrier, and Faith. The preacher plans to initiate both Brown and Faith by showing them the wickedness of the world. After Brown tells Faith to resist the temptation, he suddenly finds himself alone in the forest clearing. After returning home, Brown acts distant and distrustful, as he suspects everyone around him to be Devil worshippers.
Theme
Loss of faith and innocence can be described as the main theme of the short story. Because of his intrinsic corruptibility, Goodman Brown loses his innocence, suggesting that whether or not the events in the forest are real, his innocence will be lost regardless. Goodman Brown decides to visit the forest and encounter the devil, which puts him in danger; the devil only assists in his fall.
For Goodman Brown, the question of whether or not the terrible events of the night are real is irrelevant. It would show Brown’s evil nature if it were all a dream. If they exist, Goodman Brown has come to understand that everyone around him is corrupt, and he has brought this understanding upon himself as a result of his insatiable curiosity. Hence, whether the night’s events were genuine or just a dream, Goodman Brown would eventually lose his innocence.
Symbolism
Faith’s pink ribbons are an example of symbolism in the short story. Pink ribbons are tied around Faith’s cap to represent her purity (Hawthorne 1). Pink is associated with purity and joy, while ribbons serve as a modest, innocent decoration. At the novel’s beginning, Hawthorne repeatedly references Faith’s pink ribbons, giving her character a sense of youth and joy. The ribbons are once again introduced by Hawthorne when Goodman Brown is in the forest facing his doubts regarding the goodness of the individuals he knows.
Given that Faith has lost this reminder of her purity, Goodman Brown reads the pink ribbon descending from the sky as evidence that she has undoubtedly stepped into the domain of the devil (Hawthorne 6). When Faith welcomes Goodman Brown back from the forest toward the end of the novel, she once more dons her pink ribbons. This suggests a return to the innocent persona she constructed at the beginning and casting doubt on the veracity of Goodman Brown’s experiences. As a result, through Faith’s pink ribbons, Hawthorne represents her purity and her loss of innocence when she loses them.
The usage of the abovementioned theme and symbols makes the ending grim yet interesting for the reader. It is written that: “When the congregation was singing a holy psalm, he could not listen, because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear, and drowned all the blessed strain” (Hawthorne 10). This shows that what Goodman Brown has seen has led him to question other people’s faith, as he was so easily led astray himself and has seen the corruption in others. Hence, whether or not the protagonist’s experience was real or imaginary, it has shaken his faith and his belief in other people’s faith as well, leading to a dark ending that leaves the reader questioning if the events were actual.
Conclusion
Thus, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism and themes to a great extent. The loss of innocence and faith is the central theme of the short story and is supported by the various symbols. These include Faith’s pink ribbons, which symbolize her innocence and later descent into sin. Such clever techniques led to a remarkable ending, with Brown questioning everyone else’s innocence and faith, as he has fallen so easily in his experience. To summarize, the literary techniques used by Hawthorne have created a bleak yet captivating story about the loss of faith.
Work Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Columbia University, 2001. Web.