Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown: The Fall of Faith.
The story of "Young Goodman Brown" is about a man and his faith in himself, his wife, and the community they live in. Brown must go on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return back to the village before sunrise. The story begins with Goodman Brown departing from his wife in the village to meet with and take a stroll in the forest with another traveler, the devil. Brown is happy with the local townspeople and with his faith at first, but soon he begins to doubt all the things he had faith in, including himself. Throughout the story Hawthorne uses setting and characters as symbols representing different aspects of good and evil and he uses the plot to develop the eventual win-over of evil over Goodman Brown's Faith.
Plot is used to develop the eventual win of evil over Goodman Brown's faith. The plot begins by leading the reader to believe that Goodman Brown will succeed in his journey and return home a holier man with a newly instilled strength in his faith. But as soon as Brown meets with the devil, he taxes Brown with being late for his appointment. Brown answers, "Faith kept me back a whiles". Soon the plot becomes more complicated (Ellis 2). Brown sees his father, grandfather, and fellow townspeople attending the witch meeting, but he still will not attend. The plot takes a big turn when Brown realizes his dear Faith is attending the meeting. Brown seems very protective of Faith (Ellis 2). The plot then shows Brown reunited with faith, but as irony would have it, he lives an unhappy, distrustful person to combat evil, but by doing so he reflects something almost worse than evil (Ellis 3). The setting of each event is important in understanding the symbolism behind what is taking place. The town of Salem is where the story begins. The setting is calm and peaceful. It symbolizes a .
Goldman 2.