Rodolfo Rodriguez

Mr.Darin Thompson
English 1301.27
8 December 2016
Literary Analysis of Young Goodman Brown Rough Draft
Have you ever had second thoughts about God? Well Young Goodman Brown by
Nathaniel Hawthorne is stimulating, insightful, and an iconic short story written in 1835 about a
man who loses his own faith in God. An ordinary man named Young Goodman Brown who is
happily married to his wife Faith embarks on a journey into the woods for one night, where he is
accompanied by a stranger with a staff. The stranger leads Young Goodman Brown to finding the
truth about the other townspeople. The next day he wakes up and is never the same again.
Nathaniel Hawthorne constantly uses symbolism to show how Young Goodman Brown loses his
religious beliefs throughout the story. For example the strangers staff depicts the devils
temptation, Faiths pink ribbon symbolizes innocence, and Faith herself represents his faith in
God. In fact the strangers staff is in the shape of a serpent.
Throughout the bible the serpent is used to portray a general idea of the devil. In the
Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are misled by a serpent. He tempts them into doubting Gods
word and convinces them into eating from the forbidden tree. Coincidently the strangers staff is
carved in the shape of a serpent. As said so by Young Goodman Brown himself But the only
thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of
a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself
like a living serpent. Not only do the both serpents physically resemble each other but also they
both lead to the same fate. Once Adam and Eve start to listen to the serpent they start to doubt

Gods word. When Young Goodman Brown starts to listen to the man with a serpent staff he does
the same. Not only is Young Goodman Brown a victim of doubt but so is Faith.
Faith is said to have a pink ribbon constantly throughout the story. For example Faith, as
the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with
the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown. Pink psychologically connects
to innocence. According to colorphsycology.org Pink can be linked to childhood sweetness and
innocence, appearing sometimes as nave or silly. Pink is a color that suggests vulnerability and
youth. Faiths ribbon symbolizes the good and the innocence in her. Young Goodman Brown
completely loses his faith in god once he stops seeing these attributes in his wife. He realizes
shes not all good once he finds her ribbon in the woods. In page 6 of Young Goodman Brown he
says But something fluttered lightly down through the air and caught on the branch of a tree.
The young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon. "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." Young Goodman Brown finding his wifes ribbon in the woods is the breaking
point of his faith in God. Faith herself is a symbol for Young Goodman Browns faith.
Finally, Faith represents Youngs own faith in God. Its no coincidence that her name if
Faith. Whenever he says My Faith is gone! its a double meaning. It can be interpreted as his
belief in God is gone and it can also be interpreted as his wife because her name happens to be
Faith. Both faith and Faith are spelt the same. After this Young Goodman Brown never sees his
wife the same way again which is important because his wife symbolizes his belief in his
religion. He only sees the evil and sins in people which causes him to be a negative person for
the rest of his life.

Nathaniel Hawthorne writes these symbols to entertain and give insight about a story
about a man who embarks on a journey of sin and ends up losing his faith in God. He tells this
short story about Young Goodman Brown with multiple symbols such as a serpent, a pink ribbon,
and the protagonists wife. Thanks to these three symbols Young Goodman Brown will never be
the same again because he has lost his faith in God.

Rodolfo Rodriguez
Mr.Darin Thompson
English 1301.27
8 December 2016
Works Cited
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Young Goodman Brown luonline.blackboard.com Web. 8 Dec. 2016.
Pink. Color Psychology, www.colorpsychology.org Web. 8 Dec. 2016
Lawson, Benjamin S. "Young Goodman Brown By Nathaniel Hawthorne." Salem Press
Encyclopedia Of Literature (2015): Research Starters. Web. 8 Dec. 2016. The American
Society of Reproductive Medicine. Benefits of Birth Control Pills www.asmr.org, N.P,
2011