The Influence of Society on the Young Goodman Brown Essay -- essays re

Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown illustrates vividly how society and culture can precise much influence a persons sense of identity and belonging, or in the case of Young Goodman Brown the lack thereof. Being a Puritan man in a society that scorned the ways of witches and the devil, Young Goodman Brown grew up with a very pious outlook on life. Yet when it occurs to him to look at life a little bit differently, Young Goodman Brown receives more than he has bargained for. The journey he embarks on sheds a whole new light on his society that not only creates a jumble between himself and his fellow men but also matchless within himself. From the beginning of Hawthornes story a test of faith prevails. From the moment that Young Goodman Brown parts with his wife, Faith, to when they meet again at the plaza of the forest, the very manner Young Goodman Brown has been taught his entire life is at stake. Yet it is not so much Goodman Browns faith in God that is the concern but wh ether or not Goodman Brown feels he can trust anyone or anything he has ever come to know and see in. Society has preconditioned him to think a certain way, thus through this journey Young Goodman Brown cannot deal with the new Puritan life he witnesses. Since he is unsure of what his society is truly like Goodman Brown is now incapable of knowing his place in society and knowing whom he very is.In an article entitled Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Stories Walter Shear discusses how Young Goodman Brown swings out of time, paradoxically and almost deliriously senses his power, and then moves abruptly back to contemplate his pagan requisite. It is up to Goodman Brown if, upon his return to his home, he will live with a resigned contentment at his place in the world or with an irreconcilable bitterness at his powerlessness (548). Young Goodman Brown goes into the forest at inaugural with only a small expectation of what he is going to experience. Of his fellow Puritan society he sees the bad seeds as well as supposed(p) men and women of the utmost regard. He sees virgin girls filled with reverence and innocence, and even members of the church present at the devils ceremony. This causes Young Goodman Brown to capitulum his entire upbringing and trust in his society. It creates... ...o into the forest. But he did therefore choosing to chance the event of seeing something he might never would have cherished to see. But now it is too late and poor Young Goodman Brown has become a prisoner of his own mind for he is unsure of what is true anymore. Even on the day he died he was filled with gloom.The story of Young Goodman Brown presents a struggle with the clash of Goodman Browns cultural fate of being a Puritan and his mind that is exposed to unholy acts. He goes from a prisoner of only what his society has shown him to a prisoner of the fate to live in it even after he learns its potential evilness. By not succumbing to the sinfulness of his journey, Young Goodman Brown in turn succumbs to the struggle within his mind. He is trapped by taunting thoughts and allows his life to be guided by the confusion that has caused him to forever question reality.Works CitedHawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. fanciful Tales Random House, Inc. New York 1997. 181-196.Shear, Walter. Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three Stories. Studies in Short Fiction Newberry Fall 1992. 294. 543-49.