“Young Goodman Brown”

“Young Goodman Brown”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Young Goodman Brown”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Young Goodman Brown”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Young Goodman Brown”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Young Goodman Brown”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Young Goodman Brown”
In your group, record detailed answers to each
of the following questions:
Before he departs, what do you find out about
Brown’s relationship with his wife?
What details are used to describe the forest
when Brown first sets foots there?
What are the most notable details used to describe the “second traveler”?
What does Brown learn from the old man about his ancestors?
Which member of Salem’s theocracy does Brown respect most?
What is Brown’s relationship with Goody Cloyse? What do we learn
about her while she converses with the old man? About Brown’s father?
“Young Goodman Brown”
What exactly happens when the old man
throws his staff to the ground?
What exactly is the “world of meaning in [the]
simple comment” made by Brown?
What noteworthy details mark the old man’s
departure from the path?
What is strange about the discussion, overheard by Brown, between the
minister and Deacon Gookin?
What allows Brown to hear voices in the sky? What happens when these
voices disappear?
One of the story’s most important paragraphs begins “And maddened by
despair.” Read it carefully and identify its most notable details.
“Young Goodman Brown”
What is different about Brown after he
beholds the pink ribbon fluttering down from
the sky?
What does Brown hear as he approaches the
clearing in the forest?
Describe what Brown sees in this clearing.
How exactly does Brown move from his hiding place to the blazing rock?
Another important passage in the story is the one spoken by “the sable
form.” (“There ... are all whom ye have reverenced … ”) Read the
paragraph carefully, record its important details and main message.
What exactly is about to happen when Brown cries out to Faith to look
heavenward?
“Young Goodman Brown”
What happens directly after Brown cries out to
Faith in the forest?
Which of the villagers does Brown encounter on
his way back from the forest? What does he
witness during these encounters?
What happens when Brown encounters Faith?
Later on, what effect do these events in the forest have on Brown’s life?
Why exactly is Brown’s “dying hour” one of “gloom”?
This line, late in the tale, should remind you of Irving’s story: “Had Goodman
Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch
meeting?” Compare the events of the forest and Brown’s return from that setting
to those events encountered in “Rip Van Winkle.” How are the events similar?
How are they different?
Allegory
A narrative technique in which characters representing things or
abstract ideas are used to convey a message or teach a lesson. An
allegory is typically used to teach moral, ethical, or religious
lessons.
______________________________________________
How might the characters in the tale be seen as representing
things or abstract ideas? What things or abstract ideas to these
characters represent?
Consider the setting of the story. Consider the action of the story.
When these elements are coupled with the characters-as-things-orideas, how might all of this provide us with a new way of reading
this story?
Questions
How is Hawthorne’s depiction of the natural world different from
Irving’s? In what ways is it similar?
Which tale—“Rip Van Winkle” or “Young Goodman Brown”—requires
from its audience a deeper knowledge of American history in
order to arrive at a meaningful understanding of its events?
This tale, published in 1835, features a temporal setting more
than 100 years old. What are the advantages of setting the story so
far in the past? What are the disadvantages?
Might there be events happening in the America of the 1830s that
this tale in some way comments on? What might those events be?
What would be the tale’s attitude toward those events?