Journal #12 -Young Goodman Brown

1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative). What do the following represent?

Young Goodman Brown – A young man, who is trying to be an upstanding citizen. He fails at doing so because all people are somewhat bad. Brown is a common name; he represents the common man.


Faith – Young Goodman Brown’s wife, he has lost all faith in her. She represents faith in humanity.


The Elderly Traveller/Fellow-Traveller – The Devil; evil; temptation. Everyone travels down this road with him.


Goody Cloyse – Religious hypocrisy, corruption


The Ceremony – The sinful nature of people; baptism or confirmation; celebrating sin.


The Pink Ribbon – Innocence; when the ribbon falls, the innocence is gone. Losing faith, he has also lost Faith, his wife, forever.


Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – A person’s moral journey; seeing beneath the surface of everyone to who they really are.



2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”:

Theme Message of Theme Element Used to Establish

The theme of “Young Goodman Brown” is the morality, or lack thereof, that people have. Brown thinks that everyone in his town is good, but when he goes to this satanic ceremony, he realizes that all of the people he knows are not actually as good as he thought they were. The message of the theme is that all people are bad in some way. People may look, on the outside, to be perfect and good, but on the inside, they are bad. The elements used to establish this theme were the characters and the setting. The characters play a very large roll because Brown loses all of his faith in them when he finds out that they are not all the good people he made them out to be. The setting is also very important because the woods at night are a very dark place, and often described as horrifying and terrible.


In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.
1. “The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest. The governor and I, too -- But these are state secrets.''
2. ``Yea, truly is it, and in the very image of my old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is. But -- would your worship believe it? -- my broomstick hath strangely disappeared, stolen, as I suspect, by that unhanged witch, Goody Cory, and that, too, when I was all anointed with the juice of smallage, and cinquefoil, and wolf's bane''
3. ``You will think better of this by and by,'' said his acquaintance, composedly. ``Sit here and rest yourself a while; and when you feel like moving again, there is my staff to help you along.'' Without more words, he threw his companion the maple stick, and was as speedily out of sight as if he had vanished into the deepening gloom. The young man sat a few moments by the roadside, applauding himself greatly”