What do you think of Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Question

I have to write an essay where I must read against the grain and pick a topic that is not obvious about the story. I need serious help! So....does anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

Well, from what I've read and heard, the most prevalent reading is one about the presence of evil in YGB. Perhaps if you try a deconstructionist reading, (ie. flipping binaries so that the positive becomes the negative, etc) you could make a case for how the darkness of the forest and the evil that lurks there is actually not evil at all, but good, and the devil is not negative but positive. You could also try a feminist or marxist reading, where you either explore the function of the female character in the story, or where you explore the function of class (why are they all so puritan? "goodman", etc).

Answer 2

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Young Goodman Brown Summary | Detailed Analysis

When is a story so sinister and terrible that it becomes almost laughable- like the perfect satire? When the story is drafted by the master storyteller, Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Young Goodman Young" is chilling and incisive no matter what one believes about the world. More…..

http://litsum.com/young-goodman-brown/analysis001.php

This next link is a premium site, meaning, they only give you so much for free, however, you might get some ideas for your essay. Good luck.

Young Goodman Brown Study Guide consists of approx. 45 pages of summaries and analysis on Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Browse the literature study guide below:

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-younggoodmanbrown/

Good luck.

Answer 3

One of the themes about this story that jumped out at me, but have never seen analyzed, is the way that the members and husbands and wives are able to keep a straight face.

Their nightime, hidden activities are so bizarre and opposite their daytime lives, that I often wondered how they could keep their 'public faces' on around each other. Or for that matter, why they would want to. They seem to have found a balance that works for them, but why balance at all?

Answer 4

I would go with the history around the time. Hawthorne lived through the Witch Trials. Use the way he writes, his jargon, and the symbolic-ness of of the story with how it pertains to what he lived through and what he saw. There is also the psychological side of what he went through.