Week 2, Day 1 "Young Goodman Brown"

Reading Questions & terms:

1.     Where is young Goodman Brown headed after sunset?
2.     What signs do we see in the text that this destination is a frightening one on this particular night of the year?
3.     With what character is the motif of the pink ribbon associated? Why is that an appropriate object for this character?
4.      How is Brown's wife an allegorical figure given her name?
5.      How is Brown's own name and title potentially allegorical? Where does Brown fit on the spectrum of black and white?
6.      Who does Brown meet first in the dark woods? Why do you suppose that figure appear the way the does in terms of clothing and mannerisms?
7.      What is this figure's connection with Brown's family, if we can believe the figure's claims?
8.      Who is Goody Cloyse? Why was she special to Brown in the development of his beliefs?
9.      What falls from the sky that convinces Brown his wife is attending the witches' sabbat?
10.   Who attends the Satanic coven in the woods, i.e., what sort of people?
11.   What happens when Brown calls out to Faith to look to heaven rather than partake of the unholy ceremony?
12.   How does this event--real or imagined--affect Brown's interactions with his community?
13.   What is or is not carved on Brown's tombstone when he dies? Why? Explain.
14.   How does the nighttime wilderness serve as a foil for the daytime village in this story?
15.   Why would Satan look so much like Brown himself? Why is that creepier than a demon with horns and pitchfork and cloven hooves?
16.   Brown declares that he has "lost his faith." Faith in what, exactly? God? Or something else?
17.   When describing the events in the woods, note how many times Hawthorne uses ambiguous language in diction like seems, must, appears, perhaps, and maybe. [EXAMPLE: “This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light.”] Why does Hawthorne want to leave all this so ambiguous? Why not tell us clearly whether something is happening or not happening?

Be able to identify the source of the following quotations and explain their significance:

A."Dearest heart," whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, "pr'y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she's afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year!"

B. He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood asike to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind.

C. “Faith kept me back a while,” replied the young man, with a tremor in his voice, caused by the sudden appearance of his companion though not wholly unexpected.

D. “Sayest thou so?” replied he of the serpent, smiling . . . . “Let us walk on, nevertheless, reasoning as we go . . . .We are but a little way in the forest yet.”

E. "That old woman taught me my catechism!" said the young man; and there was a world of meaning in this simple comment.

F. The cry of grief, rage, and terror, was yet piercing the night, when the unhappy husband held his breath for a response. There was a scream, drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices, fading into far-off laughter, as the dark cloud swept away, leaving the clear and silent sky above Goodman Brown. 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.

G. "Lo! there ye stand, my children," said the figure, in a deep and solemn tone, almost sad, with its despairing awfulness, as if his once angelic nature could yet mourn for our miserable race. "Depending upon one another's hearts, ye had still hoped that virtue were not all a dream! Now are ye undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome, again, my children, to the communion of your race!"

H. And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave, a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grand-children, a goodly procession, besides neighbors, not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.