Topic 1: “Young Goodman Brown” Written by: Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, and raised by his widowed mother. Hawthorne’s ancestors were several of the earliest settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. John Hathorne (original spelling of the family name), was his great-grandfather, who served as a judge at the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Hawthorne felt fascination and shame for his family’s involvement in the witch trials and integrated those feelings into his fiction. Nathaniel Hawthorne believed in the existence of the devil and believed in predestination. “Young Goodman Brown” attests to Hawthorne's symbolic habit of mind and to his interest in the past, myth, and human psychology.” (Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism). This suggests how Hawthorne’s novels, led critics to consider him a pioneer of psychological fiction. Topic 2: “Young Goodman Brown”
Goodman Brown is a young faithful Christian whose begins to question his faith after a meeting in the forest with the devil. Goodman has always believed that everyone around him is of one accord not only with them-selves but also with God. When he meets face to face with the devil, Goodman is astonished that the devil appears to him as a resemblance of himself. “…and bearing a considerable resemblance to him, though perhaps more in expression than features.” (Kennedy and Gioia 343). This suggests that Goodman may have doubts about his strong puritan beliefs and his faith. Not long into his journey this belief begins to create deception in his mind and change his perception of the people that surrounded him in his past and present. “My father never went into the woods […], nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and Christians, […].” (Kennedy and Gioia 343). Goodman’s arrogance is immediately oppressed when, to his dismay the devil argues “I have been well acquainted with your family […] I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker women […] and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot […] to set fire to an Indian village […].” (Kennedy and Gioia 343).
His dynamic movement begins at the idea and desire to leave his young, new wife, Faith, to join the devil in the forest for an unknown evil purpose. He begins to notice certain characters from his village that do not seem as “Godly” as he might have thought. Goodman has become confused and has many questions but he continues his journey. This shows Goodman’s objective to seek some unknown knowledge, which will change his views and thoughts forever. As Goodman and the devil travel deeper in the forest, Goodman recognizes the voices of the minister and deacon from his church talking about the meeting, new converts, and a goodly woman that will be taken into communion. This creates more doubt in his mind about good and evil and his Puritan beliefs and it is only with the thought of his wife, Faith that sustains him. As Goodman begins to pray, he hears Faith's voice, and soon realizes that she is the goodly women that will be taken into communion at the meeting. Goodman yells out to Faith and begs her to look up to heaven and resist the devil, and then suddenly finds himself alone and in absolute stillness in the forest. This suggests that Goodman may have been dreaming. As Goodman returns to town the next morning, he turns away from everyone he meets, including Faith. Because of the events that occurred in the forest, Goodman creates the illusion that all of the citizens in Salem Village have deceitful dispositions. This limits Goodman’s perception, as he never really proves whether he dreamed this experience in the forest or if it really took place. This complicates the remainder of Goodman’s life; he becomes a lonely, distrustful man who rejects his wife and his religion. The only thing that can be said about Goodman, many years later, when he dies is “his dying hour was gloom.” (Kennedy and Gioia 350).

Topic 3: “The Yellow Wallpaper” Written by: Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” to give courage and a voice to the oppressed masses of women during the 1890's. “As someone who almost was destroyed by S. Weir Mitchell’s “resting cure” for depression, it is not surprising that Gilman structured her story as an attack on this ineffective and cruel course of treatment. “ The Yellow Wallpaper” is an illustration of the way a mind that is already plagued with anxiety can deteriorate and begin to prey on itself when it is forced into inactivity and kept from healthy work.” (Spark Notes Editor) Women are supposedly expected to be submissive to their husbands once they are married. The story conflicts a young woman and her beliefs. Her story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” although its controversy is an example of women’s suffrage. It is believed by many that the author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is speaking about her mental state as it deteriorates in the encounter with the wallpaper in her room. She is misled into thinking she is going on a vacation, when she may actually have been taken to an asylum. She calls her husband “John” but he could be nothing more than her psychiatrist. John as her physician and/or husband tells her what to do every day, things like, stay in bed, do not write, and do not think about anything, because it could hurt your brain. She was detained and restricted of her freedom. Also, by her writing, “I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already"(Kennedy and Gioia 292) suggests she is very insecure about herself and she possible does not even value her own life. Consequently, the story focuses on her struggles and misunderstanding of her mental illness. The author describes the walls as dirty yellow, ripped, and soiled wallpaper with characters that come to life after starring at it for hours. She then argues that it happens only with certain lighting at the same time every day, she does not realize that there is no special light. This suggests that her perception that is being weakened by the medical treatment administered to her and the misunderstanding of her illness. This type of treatment shows a violation of her rights during that period of time. The description of the wallpaper throughout the story illustrates the progression of her illness; she is so desperate for an escape from the wallpaper that she contemplates suicide, “I’ve got a rope here that even Jennie did not find.” (Kennedy and Gioia 300). The period in which “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written proved to be a very harsh for woman. Women had no rights or status within their society. Along with the wallpaper itself, the complex symbols used in "The Yellow Wallpaper" re-create Charlotte Perkins Gilman portrayal of the oppression of women in the nineteenth century. The house itself suggests a symbol of entrapment; she proclaims the house is haunted and that there is something strange about it. Her impression of the house is like a premonition for the change that takes place within herself, in a way it is like a cocoon for transformation. The windows in the house also illustrate symbolism, the feeling of being trapped because of the bars on the window. Usually this symbol represents a view of opportunities, but it also becomes a view to what she does not want to see. Through it, she sees everything she could be and everything that she could have. “The short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is considered Gilman's best work of fiction and is also her least typical. Rather than an optimistic vision of what women can achieve, the story is a first-person account of a young mother's mental deterioration, based on Gilman's own experiences. Although early reviewers interpreted "The Yellow Wallpaper" as either a horror story or a case study in mental illness, most critics today see it as a feminist indictment of society's subjugation of women and praise its compelling characterization, complex symbolism, and thematic depth.”(Women’s History: Charlotte Perkins Gilman).

Works Cited
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wallpaper." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Fifth Ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 290+. Print.

Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Nathaniel Hawthorne: Young Goodman Brown." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Fifth Ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 342+. Print.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on the Yellow Wallpaper.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2006. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.

"Women's History: Charlotte Perkins Gilman." www.gale.cengage.com. U•X•L Biographies, 1996. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. .

"Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne - Introduction." Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Juliet Byington. Vol. 95. Gale Cengage, 2001. ENotes.com. 14 Apr, 2012