Goodman Brown Night Symbolism

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Three men were offered a small loan of a million dollars , but they had to give their oldest child in return. Two of the men gave into temptation but one man was pure hearted and did not give up his child. Everyone is tempted , but people who are pure hearted can get passed temptation. In the story Young Goodman Brown goes into the forest , which is considered bad. The forest that he walks in symbolizes sin , and as he goes deeper and deeper into the forest he gets closer to sin. An example of the forest being sinful would be when Young Goodman Brown stops and states “ Too far ! Too far ! ….. My father never went into the woods on such an errand , nor his father before him” (Hawthorne Pg. 2). This clearly shows how Young Goodman Brown realizes what he is walking into and tries to stop. He even …show more content…
Night time symbolizes the time of sinfulness.
Young Goodman Brown notices Goody Cloyse , his childhood catechism teacher , in the woods at night. He is stunned by this as the devil stated “ A marvel , truly , that goody cloyse should be so far into the wilderness at nightfall” (Hawthorne Pg. 3). Goody Cloyse goes into the woods at night hoping people would not see her , this is a perfect example of the night symbolizing the time of sin. Young Goodman Brown is quite surprised to see her there but is shown that everyone is tempted even the people you thought were pure.
One more symbol in the story is Young Goodman Brown himself. He goes through the forest during the night , and still makes it out a good man. He symbolizes the pure hearted people in the world. When being led deeper into the forest , talking about his family , he states “ We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs” (Hawthorne Pg. 2). This shows that even as he goes deeper into the woods and closer to sin , he still remains pure at heart , not giving into temptation or sin. Showing that even if you are
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