Post your thesis and quotes from class work on Mon. We will present these to the class on Wed.
Groups: 1) Young Goodman Brown 2) Faith 3) The Forest 4) The devil 5) Townspeople 6)Salem Village
As Young Goodman Brown travels down the path in the forest, he leaves Faith behind and it becomes progressively more difficult to return, exemplifying his transition from a life of faith and tradition to one of sin. -Jack, Alison, Katie, Nicole
A good quote to support our thesis is “The road grew wilder and drearier, and more faintly traced, and vanished at length, leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness” (270).
A good quote to support our thesis is “The road grew wilder and drearier, and more faintly traced, and vanished at length, leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness” (270).
“Suddenly, in a gloomy hollow of the road, Goodman Brown sat himself down on the stump of a tree, and refused to go any farther" (270).
This shows a transitional point in Young Goodman Brown's travel down the path and his transition towards sin. At this point, he has decided to return home to Faith, however, the force pulling him towards sin proves too strong and he soon continues down the path.
“Suddenly, in a gloomy hollow of the road, Goodman Brown sat himself down on the stump of a tree, and refused to go any farther" (270).
This shows a transitional point in Young Goodman Brown's travel down the path and his transition towards sin. At this point, he has decided to return home to Faith, however, the force pulling him towards sin proves too strong and he soon continues down the path.
For the 3rd paragraph/point: Young Goodman Brown became a "stern, a sad, a darkly meditative" man. By rejecting his faith and being influenced by evil, YGB becomes a new man.
"But, Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into [Faith's] face, and passed on without a greeting", demonstrating how YGB is a changed man. Even the sight of his beloved wife doesn't spark the goodness in him. He has become a bitter man and ultimately, "his dying hour was gloom". This shift in character due to YGB's newfound ideas of evil prevents him from abiding by his faith and its goodness.
For the 3rd paragraph/point: Young Goodman Brown became a "stern, a sad, a darkly meditative" man. By rejecting his faith and being influenced by evil, YGB becomes a new man.
"But, Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into [Faith's] face, and passed on without a greeting", demonstrating how YGB is a changed man. Even the sight of his beloved wife doesn't spark the goodness in him. He has become a bitter man and ultimately, "his dying hour was gloom". This shift in character due to YGB's newfound ideas of evil prevents him from abiding by his faith and its goodness.
For the first paragraph, the main idea would be about not just the parallel between young and old goodman brown, but a reflection on the choices he could make. Had he betrayed everything he was raised to believe in, he would have been damning himself forever. But instead, young goodman brown chooses to ostracize himself, and dies a bitter old man. Those were his choices. Hawthorne makes it clear: in Puritan society, you can't win.
Thesis: Using young goodmans brown's traveling companion in the forest as a vessel for the devil and temptation, hawthorn illustrates how the choices that one makes in Puritan society can never result in a fulfilling outcome.
1. how ogb is the devil and how hawthorn portrays that. analysis --why 2. how ygb stands true to his puritan beliefs even though all of his society is not doing that 3. Even though he did that he still has a sad death, he realizes that humans are inherently evil?
"his staff which bore the likeness of a great blacksnake so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent" 266 "'the devil!' screamed the pius old lady." 266 the path represents the path that the puritan society is going ... and ygb strays from that in an attempt to help the old lady.
"Still they might have been taken for father and son" 266 there is a parallel between ogb and ygb yet they hang on opposite ends of good/evil. like mirror-selves "but ybg looked sternly into her face... and passed by"
In the end when Faith approaches ygb joyfully, he just "[looks] sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting" (273). When he does this, he still has his Faith with him, however he chooses to ignore it. After seeing the corruption of puritan society, he ignores whatever faith he could have to be happy wit the puritans.
"Goody Cloyse, that pious teacher of the catechism...who had received the devil's promise to be queen of hell." Even Goody Cloyse, who taught Young Goodman Brown about religion, is inflicted by "the devil". Shows that everything YGB once knew about his faith is a lie. Emphasizes Hawthorne's disapproval of strict Puritan beliefs about religion.
Thesis : The townspeople act as a symbol for the loss of Young Goodman Brown's faith, as they disturb his perception of mankind and lead him to conclude that people are inherently evil.
Deacon Gookin is a member of the clergy in Salem, yet he appears to be a follower of the devil. This forces Young Goodman Brown to question his faith because although he perceives Deacon Gookin as a very religious man, Deacon Gookin is a follower of the devil. Young Goodman Brown realizes that if someone as “pure” as Deacon Gookin can follow the devil, nothing is stopping other people from following the devil as well. "Good old deacon Gookin had arrived, and waited at the skirts of that venerable saint, his revered pastor." "but irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins"
"and when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave, a hoary corpse,... they carved no hopeful verse upon his tomb-stone; for his dying hour was gloom."
Brown "lived long" and thus outgrows his prior youth. The fact that his "dying hour was gloom" implies that such development, reflecting his losses, undermines the ideals he once holds, diminishing the quality of his life as a whole. The use of "hoary", meaning greyish white, reinforces this as well, and its status as a homophone references the role of sin in this process. More wordplay with him being "borne to his grave" implies that such misdoing is innate from the beginning, inevitably challenging his perceptions of human piety. Finally, the lack of "a hopeful verse" finalizes the idea that anybody can avoid this influence.
“They carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.” This is the final line of the short story and works to embody the idea that YGB's decision to commit sin had lead to his loss of faith. Hawthorne's guilt-complex over his Puritan ancestors' distasteful role in the Salem witch trials can often be seen in his writings. In this particular short story, Hawthorne shows that the Puritans' strict moral code and overemphasis on the doings of sin are cause for unnecessary paranoia and suspicion. Did YGB really encounter the devil in the forest or was his appearance a figment of paranoid imagination? This suspiscion rooted in his Puritan values has caused YGB to die in "gloom" and without faith. Another instance where faith is lost is when YGB meets the devil. He claims their meeting was late because "Faith kept me back awhile". It is true that the encounter with his wife delayed their meeting. It can also be interpreted that his pure faith in God and the Puritan religion had kept him a while from the devil because he had held on to his beliefs until this point.
Thesis: Young Goodman Brown highlights the inevitability of the common man discovering the hypocrisy of religion by recreating the story of the original sin.
“The young man sat a few moments, by the roadside, applauding himself greatly, and thinking how clear a conscience he should meet the minister, in his morning walk, nor shrink from the eye of good old deacon Gookin” Young Goodman Brown has sat and refused to succumb to the temptation of sin by venturing deeper into the woods. However, his efforts are only temporary because as he sits, he witnesses a conversation between the minister and the deacon who are bounding deep into the woods. Young Goodman Brown is forced to question the tendencies of humanity. The people that are supposed to be pure are actually corrupt and hypocritical. "He looked up at the sky doubting whether there really was a Heaven above him." Brown is now filled with doubt and makes a last attempt to grasp whatever is true and good by calling for his wife, Faith. When he realizes "My Faith is gone!" he "grasp[s] his staff and set forth again, at such a rate, that he seemed to fly along the forest path..." Goodman Brown has lost all faith and chooses to continue down the evil path of sin and temptation. He represents the effects that evil can have on humanity which results in his inability to resist. He is stripped of all things meaningful to him which causes him to continue onward into a realm of evil.
Young Goodman Brown’s wife, ironically named Faith, exposes the hypocritical nature of the Puritan religion by illuminating the darkness that can coincide with purity.
"But something fluttered lightly down through the air, and caught on a branch of a tree. The young man seized it and held the pink ribbon."
The ribbons mentioned in this quote represent the purity and innocence of faith. Young Goodman Brown is finding these ribbons in a dark and evil forest. This illustrates how the pureness of faith can get caught up in evil making it corrupt.
"My Faith is gone!" cried he, after one stupefied moment. "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given."
YGB literally loses Faith in this moment. He is enlightened to the darkness of the world and no longer can see the good things that he once was so keen on. When he calls the devil, it is empowering the devil so YGB is succumbing to the darkness.
“With heaven above and Faith below I will yet stand firm against the devil”
YGB may have been talking about his wife here, but he is also refering to figurative faith. This is in the beginning before he submitted to the dark side, he is confident that he can overcome anything with "faith" on his side.
Thesis: Salem Village symbolizes the deterioration of Young Goodman Brown's beliefs, illuminating how evil can permanently taint the innate essence of faith.
Quotes:
1. "YGB came forth...into the street of Salem Village, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his wife." 2. "YGB came slowly into the street of Salem Village, staring around him like a bewildered man" 3. "a distrustful, if not desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream." 4. "When the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled...gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away." 5. "On the Sabbath-day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear."
I think the last quote we have (#5) is a great example for our thesis. Young Goodman Brown realizes that everyone can be tainted by evil, even people that are supposed to be extremely faithful, like the people singing the holy psalm. This realization startles him to the point where he cannot even listen to the psalm. He draws the conclusion at the church in Salem Village, a place that he originally had no negative feelings toward.
In the first quote we related YGB "crossing the threshold" to figuratively "crossing the threshold" from his devoted faith. As YGB leaves Salem Village and enters the forest he begins to question his religion and "crosses" over into a changed sinister mentality.
Quote 2- When YGB returns to Salem after venturing off into the forest he appears wildly "bewildered". The vision of a "bewildered man" connects to the emotions that YGB experiences as he journeys through the forest. His purity is stripped from him because of his encounter with evil in the forest.
"a distrustful, if not desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream."
Young goodman Brown undergoes a permanent change in his character and personality after the events, imagined or unimagined, of that night. Though he had in the end chosen to reject evil, and had ended the circle of witchcraft, he has still lost his innocence and "faith" in the innate goodness of people. The village of Salem provides a backdrop with which the reader can contrast the world and Goodman Brown's perception of it. Goodman Brown sees ordinary, good people going about their day, but his perception of evil prevented him from seeing the good in the world. It is ironic that though he has a "godly" fear of the evil which can reside in human souls, his holy intentions prevent him from observing and doing good. By his fear of evil in other humans' hearts, Goodman Brown may be creating an evil within his own heart, which he was never able to erase.
As Young Goodman Brown travels down the path in the forest, he leaves Faith behind and it becomes progressively more difficult to return, exemplifying his transition from a life of faith and tradition to one of sin.
ReplyDelete-Jack, Alison, Katie, Nicole
A good quote to support our thesis is “The road grew wilder and drearier, and more faintly traced, and vanished at length, leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness” (270).
DeleteA good quote to support our thesis is “The road grew wilder and drearier, and more faintly traced, and vanished at length, leaving him in the heart of the dark wilderness” (270).
Delete“The instinct that guides mortal man to evil” page 270
Delete“as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn” page 270
“Suddenly, in a gloomy hollow of the road, Goodman Brown sat himself down on the stump of a tree, and refused to go any farther" (270).
DeleteThis shows a transitional point in Young Goodman Brown's travel down the path and his transition towards sin. At this point, he has decided to return home to Faith, however, the force pulling him towards sin proves too strong and he soon continues down the path.
“Suddenly, in a gloomy hollow of the road, Goodman Brown sat himself down on the stump of a tree, and refused to go any farther" (270).
DeleteThis shows a transitional point in Young Goodman Brown's travel down the path and his transition towards sin. At this point, he has decided to return home to Faith, however, the force pulling him towards sin proves too strong and he soon continues down the path.
“Blazing high into the night, and fitfully illuminating the whole field. Each pendent twig and leafy festoon was in a blaze" (pg 270).
DeleteThe fire represents sin. It Young Goodman Brown's final destination on his descent into wickedness as he follows the old man's or devils path.
Fiona, Allie, Parth, Henry: The Devil
ReplyDeleteHere are our 3 points
Old Goodman Brown = the devil
-serpents
-staff
-supernatural powers
The staff corrupts
-he touches the old lady with it and she strays from the Puritan ways
-etc
The Puritan Lifestyle is 'good/pius' but unsatisfactory
-When young goodman brown dies at the end, nobody cares
We can comment quotes and other points below...
For the 3rd paragraph/point:
DeleteYoung Goodman Brown became a "stern, a sad, a darkly meditative" man. By rejecting his faith and being influenced by evil, YGB becomes a new man.
"But, Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into [Faith's] face, and passed on without a greeting", demonstrating how YGB is a changed man. Even the sight of his beloved wife doesn't spark the goodness in him. He has become a bitter man and ultimately, "his dying hour was gloom".
This shift in character due to YGB's newfound ideas of evil prevents him from abiding by his faith and its goodness.
For the 3rd paragraph/point:
DeleteYoung Goodman Brown became a "stern, a sad, a darkly meditative" man. By rejecting his faith and being influenced by evil, YGB becomes a new man.
"But, Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into [Faith's] face, and passed on without a greeting", demonstrating how YGB is a changed man. Even the sight of his beloved wife doesn't spark the goodness in him. He has become a bitter man and ultimately, "his dying hour was gloom".
This shift in character due to YGB's newfound ideas of evil prevents him from abiding by his faith and its goodness.
For the first paragraph, the main idea would be about not just the parallel between young and old goodman brown, but a reflection on the choices he could make. Had he betrayed everything he was raised to believe in, he would have been damning himself forever. But instead, young goodman brown chooses to ostracize himself, and dies a bitter old man. Those were his choices. Hawthorne makes it clear: in Puritan society, you can't win.
DeleteThesis:
DeleteUsing young goodmans brown's traveling companion in the forest as a vessel for the devil and temptation, hawthorn illustrates how the choices that one makes in Puritan society can never result in a fulfilling outcome.
1. how ogb is the devil and how hawthorn portrays that. analysis --why
Delete2. how ygb stands true to his puritan beliefs even though all of his society is not doing that
3. Even though he did that he still has a sad death, he realizes that humans are inherently evil?
"heaven above and faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil" (269)
Delete(analysis) he refuses the staff and devil even though "Faith" and other townspeople are not faithful
Delete"his staff which bore the likeness of a great blacksnake so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent" 266
Delete"'the devil!' screamed the pius old lady." 266
the path represents the path that the puritan society is going ... and ygb strays from that in an attempt to help the old lady.
"Still they might have been taken for father and son" 266
there is a parallel between ogb and ygb yet they hang on opposite ends of good/evil. like mirror-selves
"but ybg looked sternly into her face... and passed by"
In the end when Faith approaches ygb joyfully, he just "[looks] sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting" (273). When he does this, he still has his Faith with him, however he chooses to ignore it. After seeing the corruption of puritan society, he ignores whatever faith he could have to be happy wit the puritans.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEmma, Owen, Montana, Grance, Meghan
ReplyDeleteTownspeople (brainstorm)
everything he believes in and knows is based on a lie
faith is corrupted
disturbs his view on mankind
people are naturally evil
"Goody Cloyse, that pious teacher of the catechism...who had received the devil's promise to be queen of hell." Even Goody Cloyse, who taught Young Goodman Brown about religion, is inflicted by "the devil". Shows that everything YGB once knew about his faith is a lie. Emphasizes Hawthorne's disapproval of strict Puritan beliefs about religion.
DeleteThesis : The townspeople act as a symbol for the loss of Young Goodman Brown's faith, as they disturb his perception of mankind and lead him to conclude that people are inherently evil.
DeleteDeacon Gookin is a member of the clergy in Salem, yet he appears to be a follower of the devil. This forces Young Goodman Brown to question his faith because although he perceives Deacon Gookin as a very religious man, Deacon Gookin is a follower of the devil. Young Goodman Brown realizes that if someone as “pure” as Deacon Gookin can follow the devil, nothing is stopping other people from following the devil as well.
Delete"Good old deacon Gookin had arrived, and waited at the skirts of that venerable saint, his revered pastor."
"but irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins"
James, Olivia, Courtney, Olinah, Lizzie
ReplyDeleteYoung Goodman Brown ideas:
Age/experience -> loss of faith
Adam and Eve - original sin
Choosing evil -> losing faith
Effects of evil on humanity
"and when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave, a hoary corpse,... they carved no hopeful verse upon his tomb-stone; for his dying hour was gloom."
DeleteBrown "lived long" and thus outgrows his prior youth. The fact that his "dying hour was gloom" implies that such development, reflecting his losses, undermines the ideals he once holds, diminishing the quality of his life as a whole. The use of "hoary", meaning greyish white, reinforces this as well, and its status as a homophone references the role of sin in this process. More wordplay with him being "borne to his grave" implies that such misdoing is innate from the beginning, inevitably challenging his perceptions of human piety. Finally, the lack of "a hopeful verse" finalizes the idea that anybody can avoid this influence.
“They carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.” This is the final line of the short story and works to embody the idea that YGB's decision to commit sin had lead to his loss of faith. Hawthorne's guilt-complex over his Puritan ancestors' distasteful role in the Salem witch trials can often be seen in his writings. In this particular short story, Hawthorne shows that the Puritans' strict moral code and overemphasis on the doings of sin are cause for unnecessary paranoia and suspicion. Did YGB really encounter the devil in the forest or was his appearance a figment of paranoid imagination? This suspiscion rooted in his Puritan values has caused YGB to die in "gloom" and without faith. Another instance where faith is lost is when YGB meets the devil. He claims their meeting was late because "Faith kept me back awhile". It is true that the encounter with his wife delayed their meeting. It can also be interpreted that his pure faith in God and the Puritan religion had kept him a while from the devil because he had held on to his beliefs until this point.
DeleteThesis: Young Goodman Brown highlights the inevitability of the common man discovering the hypocrisy of religion by recreating the story of the original sin.
Delete“The young man sat a few moments, by the roadside, applauding himself greatly, and thinking how clear a conscience he should meet the minister, in his morning walk, nor shrink from the eye of good old deacon Gookin”
ReplyDeleteYoung Goodman Brown has sat and refused to succumb to the temptation of sin by venturing deeper into the woods. However, his efforts are only temporary because as he sits, he witnesses a conversation between the minister and the deacon who are bounding deep into the woods. Young Goodman Brown is forced to question the tendencies of humanity. The people that are supposed to be pure are actually corrupt and hypocritical. "He looked up at the sky doubting whether there really was a Heaven above him." Brown is now filled with doubt and makes a last attempt to grasp whatever is true and good by calling for his wife, Faith. When he realizes "My Faith is gone!" he "grasp[s] his staff and set forth again, at such a rate, that he seemed to fly along the forest path..." Goodman Brown has lost all faith and chooses to continue down the evil path of sin and temptation. He represents the effects that evil can have on humanity which results in his inability to resist. He is stripped of all things meaningful to him which causes him to continue onward into a realm of evil.
Young Goodman Brown’s wife, ironically named Faith, exposes the hypocritical nature of the Puritan religion by illuminating the darkness that can coincide with purity.
ReplyDelete-Sarah, Kate, Adam, Rachel, Gaby
"But something fluttered lightly down through the air, and caught on a branch of a tree. The young man seized it and held the pink ribbon."
DeleteThe ribbons mentioned in this quote represent the purity and innocence of faith. Young Goodman Brown is finding these ribbons in a dark and evil forest. This illustrates how the pureness of faith can get caught up in evil making it corrupt.
"My Faith is gone!" cried he, after one stupefied moment. "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given."
DeleteYGB literally loses Faith in this moment. He is enlightened to the darkness of the world and no longer can see the good things that he once was so keen on. When he calls the devil, it is empowering the devil so YGB is succumbing to the darkness.
“With heaven above and Faith below I will yet stand firm against the devil”
DeleteYGB may have been talking about his wife here, but he is also refering to figurative faith. This is in the beginning before he submitted to the dark side, he is confident that he can overcome anything with "faith" on his side.
Danielle, Caroline, Gauri, Kate
ReplyDeleteSymbol: Salem Village
Thesis: Salem Village symbolizes the deterioration of Young Goodman Brown's beliefs, illuminating how evil can permanently taint the innate essence of faith.
Quotes:
1. "YGB came forth...into the street of Salem Village, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his wife."
2. "YGB came slowly into the street of Salem Village, staring around him like a bewildered man"
3. "a distrustful, if not desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream."
4. "When the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled...gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away."
5. "On the Sabbath-day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear."
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI think the last quote we have (#5) is a great example for our thesis. Young Goodman Brown realizes that everyone can be tainted by evil, even people that are supposed to be extremely faithful, like the people singing the holy psalm. This realization startles him to the point where he cannot even listen to the psalm. He draws the conclusion at the church in Salem Village, a place that he originally had no negative feelings toward.
DeleteIn the first quote we related YGB "crossing the threshold" to figuratively "crossing the threshold" from his devoted faith. As YGB leaves Salem Village and enters the forest he begins to question his religion and "crosses" over into a changed sinister mentality.
DeleteQuote 2- When YGB returns to Salem after venturing off into the forest he appears wildly "bewildered". The vision of a "bewildered man" connects to the emotions that YGB experiences as he journeys through the forest. His purity is stripped from him because of his encounter with evil in the forest.
"a distrustful, if not desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream."
DeleteYoung goodman Brown undergoes a permanent change in his character and personality after the events, imagined or unimagined, of that night. Though he had in the end chosen to reject evil, and had ended the circle of witchcraft, he has still lost his innocence and "faith" in the innate goodness of people. The village of Salem provides a backdrop with which the reader can contrast the world and Goodman Brown's perception of it. Goodman Brown sees ordinary, good people going about their day, but his perception of evil prevented him from seeing the good in the world. It is ironic that though he has a "godly" fear of the evil which can reside in human souls, his holy intentions prevent him from observing and doing good. By his fear of evil in other humans' hearts, Goodman Brown may be creating an evil within his own heart, which he was never able to erase.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete