Young Goodman Brown

QUESTIONS:

1.What do you think Hawthorne's purpose was for writing this story?

To show that what you believe isn't always what it seems.

2.Hawthorne states that Brown's wife is "aptly named" Faith.  After reading the story, do you agree?  Does Faith's name fit her personality?  Does Brown have true faith in her?

Yes, faith does fit her personality. Brown does have faith in her, well he did until the end where he started questioning her.

3.What do you think the pink ribbons signify?

I think signify a young girl.

4.Was everything Brown witnessed real, a figment of his imagination, something conjured by evil, or a dream?  Support your answer with passages from the text.

It was a dream. "Be it so, if you will. But, alas! it was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream."

5.Who do you think the old man really is?  What textual clues tell you this?

The old man is the devil. The old man is constantly trying to show Brown how evil has already been part of his life,

6.What does the staff represent? Do you think the staff leads Brown onward or is the primary motivator Brown's own conscience/mind?

I think the staff represents evil. I think the staff brought out Brown's evil out of him.

7.If Brown had not ventured into the forest, how would his life be different?  If he'd stayed home, would Brown still have Faith?  Would he still trust his wife and his fellow townspeople?

His life would of been the same if he'd not gone into the woods. He would of still been with faith and trust all his fellow towns people, but because he went he changed.