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Short Story Analysis

In: English and Literature

Submitted By neyharaja
Words 1739
Pages 7
Assignment 4
12.27.2012
Short Story Analysis When people live in a sheltered environment with a paved driveway and freshly mowed lawn, they forget that they share the world with others, who live in a much darker environment. Their environment lacks much more than paved driveways and freshly mowed lawns. Most of these people are even deprived of the basic needs like a safe community, peace or their sanity. The authors of Young Goodman Brown, The Red Convertible, The Lone Ranger and Sonny’s Blues expose us to an obscure society; one where people find themselves in bleak situations. Life for these people is just a big question mark; a question that doesn’t have a straightforward answer. Many a times, authors hit the touchy topic of God’s existence in their work. Reflected by his puritan heritage, Nathanial Hawthorne wrote about faith, personal salvation and morality in his short-story “Young Goodman Brown”. The main character, Goodman Brown, has an internal battle with his faith throughout the story where he finds himself questioning the very existence of a higher power. Ultimately the bigger question in this story is one that many people ask themselves when they are faced with tough times; Does God really exist? Or is He a mere creation by society to keep face and hide behind their lies? Goodman Brown embarks on a journey against his own will. The author describes this an “evil” journey where Goodman Brown wants to turn back on many occasions but his elderly companion makes sure he continues forward. This journey symbolizes a man’s destiny and his faith that is predetermined by his society and his predecessors. Just like the journey was chosen for Goodman Brown, people like his parents, church or society choose faith for a man. Hawthorne may have reflected it as an “evil” journey, because it was hollow and not according to Brown’s own intention. “Well

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