Young Goodman Brown [short story]

"Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome, again, my children, to the communion of your race!"

If I had read this story before 2020, it would have meant very little to me except as a ripping good spooky old story!

It is an old spooky story, nearing 200 years old, in fact. The writing, the mood, the setting, the pacing, and Hawthorne's perfect mastery of his tale is a wonder to behold. I would have admired that in 2019. But a possible connection to its meaning, I would not have possessed.

As an American, 2020 introduced me to the evil of mankind that I did not know existed in mass, just like Goodman Brown discovered.

Covid 19 was a plague that brought out the selfish, the liars, the unscientific, the wanton show more revelers, the maniacs in stores going maskless in defiance of...of what? Being kind, being thoughtful, being humane? I discovered so many, some close to me, some I worked with, some I thought were friends who were all of that cabal. And all the while the devil himself with his gleaming white teeth was in charge.

I see now it was like stumbling on the same scene as Goodman in the deep forest.

Now the devil is resurrected! He's holding his slithering staff and he is angry, vengeful, setting everything on fire in wicked rejoice with his vast number of hell-bound souls collected around him.

In 2025, as a 65 year old woman, a Zen follower, espousing no religion, I couldn't be more different than young Puritan Goodman Brown, who after his experience became "a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man." He is oddly my 2020+ doppelganger. He's the doppelganger of many, of thousands, of millions who have kept the faith.

But it's not easy. If I don't outlive these next four long years of this long witch's sabbath, I predict for myself, like Goodman Brown, "a dying hour of gloom"...under a fascist regime.

Fascism is a far-right political ideology and movement characterized by dictatorial power, centralized autocracy, militarism, suppression of opposition, a belief in a natural social hierarchy, and the subordination of individual interests to the perceived interests of the nation or race. It's generally considered to be at the far right of the traditional left-right political spectrum. show less

Puritan Goodman Brown goes off in the evening and leaves his pretty young wife at home. On the way, in the woods, Brown meets up with a man that looks like himself. They could be father and son. The older man caries a cane that looks like a serpent (Moses and the Egyptian magician’s and their canes that turn into serpents). Goodman resists the devil and is left alone in the woods. The reader watches Goodman as he experiences sounds and visions in the night of devil worship and in the morning he no longer trusts anyone. Well written short story of horror. Hawthorne examines the Puritan beliefs in the depravity of man and election. He uses names such as (Good)man Brown and Faith, Goody Cloyse. Read this because it is on NPR 100 Best show more Horror list. show less

10/10

The Pocket Inferno

I'm a great fan of Hawthorne. This is my 3rd/4th re-read, over decades -- as it keeps cropping up, in various anthologies and guises for me.

One can draw many parallels with Dante's little hell, and with Christian's little pilgrimage -- and shooting forward 15o years, one can see who dwelt in Stephen King's mind as he wrote all his twisted, delightfully gruesome tales. (I think King owes more to Hawthorne in fact, than he does to Poe, in reigning master of the macabre, for there is in H. that certain sinister puritanism that doesn't quite make it into the heart of Poe.) While I delight in the horror of Poe, if I really want to have nightmares, I'll turn to Hawthorne for he rustles in the corners of my soul like a show more creepy, lurking spider, and awakens all sorts of fears and neuroses ... Nothing better! : )

A tip of the hat to the Short Story Club, for reviving all these old greats. show less

Young Goodman Brown appeals to me on two levels. I both enjoy the story and the writing. Making a deal with the devil is a timeless story that crops up in many forms: story, opera, ballet, poem, and song. I enjoyed the fact that Hawthorne never came out and had the evil character say who he was, but it was still very obvious. I also thought Hawthorne was exceedingly clever in keeping Faith’s reaction to resist the devil a mystery. Would the story have been as intriguing if we had known Faith’s choice?
While Hawthorne’s story is filled with drama and tension, I find his style of writing exquisitely beautiful, yet not overdone. His treatment of the trees and the forest is varied and detailed. The serpentine cane is creepy and show more lifelike. But, I think Hawthorne’s writing shines in his description of the sounds that Brown hears (and makes) in the woods. Rising and falling, moaning and shrieking, the sounds that precede and follow Brown are memorable!
The story and writing style compliment each other in that Hawthorne does not present part of the story and then precede to lose my attention with gobs of description....and then story.....and then description.....yawn! I love the way he aptly describes as the story zips along. Neither the story nor the description seem to get in the way of each other. show less

For the first half of this, I felt it was a rather plodding allegory: a young man bids adieu to his wife Faith and goes to meet The Devil in the woods. However, the conclusion really twists it around and makes this an excellent piece.

A young man becomes thoroughly disenchanted after he discovers that beneath the goodness of all the upright people he knew was a lurking evil, hypocrisy and sin.

The story begins sweetly, with its protagonist Goodman, and his wife Faith exchange kisses as Goodman starts on a journey. Then he meets his travelling companion, the devil, and the story gets stranger and stranger. Allegorical to the extent of winking at its own allegory, this was a nice introduction to Hawthorne

A short story written in 1835, but set in the 1600s, in language of the time. It's New England, specifically, Salem, which is a bit of a clue.

Young Goodman goes on a late-night errand, against the wishes of his new wife, Faith. Again, clues in the names. He has some “evil purpose” and vows to himself that after this, he will “cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven”.

A forest, not a garden

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

Image: Spooky wood in Massachusetts, specifically Witches Woods of Beverly (Source)

In the forest, Goodman has several encounters: some supernatural, some clearly show more laden with symbolism, and others mildly comic. But the forest is the star: a dark one, with subtle menace. Discussing it with Ilse, I recalled Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market, which I reviewed HERE. Rossetti's wood is more secular and sensual, but both have a disturbing supernatural power.

“Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream?”

What Goodman sees and hears changes everything - or does it? That question would have been the perfect way to end it, in my opinion. However, Hawthorne then explains what happened, along with something of the theological and philosophical aspects: almost a second Fall in a second Eden arising from forbidden knowledge. Perhaps nineteenth century readers wouldn't have accepted anything vaguer?

Overall, this story was too imbued with religious fears and disputes of the time for my taste, exacerbated by my relative ignorance of US history.

Short story club

I read this as one of the stories in The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.

You can read this story here.

You can join the group here. show less