Norman 1 Casey Norman 4/23/13 Writing 102 Writing Assignment #3 The Journey We All Must Take Nathaniel Hawthorne s Young Goodman Brown is a fable of a man who lived the hardships of a Puritan. Among these threats included famine, the fear of Indian attacks, and the paranoia that accompanied them to this strange new world. But the one Puritan rite of passage that frightened them the most may have been the Journey of Justification. The story of Young Goodman Brown takes us into another time, which is rich with historical and religious insight. Young Goodman Brown leaves his civilization to go on his Puritan Journey of Justification, in order to achieve peace in his afterlife, to appease God, and to complete the typical Puritan way of life. But when his faith is tested he loses faith in humans and ultimately fails his Journey of Justification. The story of the Puritans started with the legendary story of King Henry VIII wanting a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, who could not give him a male heir. Naturally, the Catholic Church would not allow a divorce, as it is against the traditional Catholic views. When King Henry VIII found out that he could not have a divorce, he separated all ties from the Catholic Church and furthermore caused the creation of the Church of England. This event happened at a very pivotal time in world history. It helped fuel the English Reformation. The Reformation was a movement starting in the 16 th century in Europe in which several Protestant religions were beginning to form. Also the
Norman 2 Catholic Church riches contrasting the poverty in which many of the people lived can also be contributed to the Reformation (Heyrman). One of the religious views that came out of the English Reformation was that of the Puritans. The Puritans believed that even though the Church of England had separated from the Catholic Church it was still corrupt. While this struggle for religion was going on, the Puritans tried to follow their own beliefs, and because of this they were persecuted. The difference in beliefs and the persecution lead them to flee England and head for the New World on board the Mayflower (Koernig and Siebold). The Puritans viewed this move as a metaphor similar to Joseph leading the Hebrews to the Promised Land. They believed that this New World would be the new Garden of Eden and that their people would be the chosen ones to fulfill God s will without the corruption of the Church of England or even the Catholic Church. Puritan beliefs were centered on their religion. The basic Puritan beliefs include total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. Total depravity is the belief that since the original sin of Adam and Eve s fall, humans are born natural sinners. Unconditional election is the concept of predestination or the belief that God has chosen those who will be saved, known as the elect. Limited atonement can be described as the belief that Jesus sacrificed himself for the chosen elect and not for everyone. The belief of irresistible grace can be described by saying that God s grace cannot be earned but rather that it is given freely. Finally, perseverance of the saints is the Puritan belief that the few elect will have the power to freely interpret the word of God (Reuben). These beliefs led the Puritans to put into action a new tradition in their heritage.
Norman 3 The Puritan s Journey of Justification was part of the Puritan s strictly Calvinist way of life. The Journey of Justification was, in essence, a trip to hell in this life (Johnson). This means that every Puritan had to take this journey in order to have a good afterlife. The journey was a trip to Hell for the Puritan to be tested in this life so they can have a good one in the next. A common belief in the Puritan society was that God had already chosen a select few of elect to be saved from damnation. This belief is called predestination and its origins come from one of the Protestant reformers known as John Calvin, the founder of the Calvinist religion. The Puritan religion was heavily influenced by the Calvinist religion, and one of the ways the Puritan religion differs from that of the Calvinist is that Puritans can take a Journey of Justification to ensure that they fall under God s grace. One principle of predestination is that no amount of work or praying will guarantee a person salvation, but when Puritans took this journey they believed that whether they were elect or non-elect, they were making a better afterlife for themselves and the journey can even be compared to Jesus journey of forty days and forty nights in the desert. One belief that justified this journey was to appease God s wrath on humanity. The Puritans believed that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sent to help humankind who was under the constant turmoil of God. They were under the control of a wrathful God whom they had cheated and who had determined their fates before the beginning of time (Claudia G. Johnson). This journey became so important in the Puritan way of life that it was considered a rite of passage for a young Puritan. In the story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the protagonist Goodman Brown starts his journey in Salem, Massachusetts. He views his little town of
Norman 4 Salem as a safe place filled with good people, such as Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin. However, Goodman Brown, being the good church going Puritan he is, must confront his sins and head out into the wilderness on his Journey of Justification. The wilderness in Young Goodman Brown can be interpreted as being a place of terror and danger in the story. When Goodman Brown enters the wilderness he fear Indians, witches and even the devil himself. The wilderness is vastly different from civilization in the story. Civilization is the safe place for a Puritan with a church, homes, and good people to pray with while wilderness is a place of unknown, where the devil lurks around every corner. In the story, the devil cleverly disguised as the weary old man, leads Goodman Brown on his Journey of Justification. The first time his faith is tested is upon learning that his father and grandfather weren t the men he thought they were. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets of Salem; and it was I that brought your father a pitch-pine knot, kindled at my own hearth, to set fire to an Indian village in King Philips War (Hawthorne). Goodman Brown started his Journey knowing that his father and grandfather did not succumb to the trickery of the devil. After realizing that his father and grandfather walked alongside the devil, his faith is starting to be put to the test. The simple fact is that Goodman Brown has not seen the evils that Puritans had committed. King Philip s War, the Salem witch trials, and the persecution of Quakers were all events in Puritan history that epitomize the hypocrisy of their beliefs. The Puritans came from Europe in search of tolerance, but they could not return the favor to the Indians, Quakers, or even people in their own town. In King Philip s War the Puritans set fire to a Pequot village and then continued the violence by shooting hundreds of
Norman 5 innocent Indians as they tried to escape the fire ("King Philip"). The Salem Witch trials of 1692 marked a period in Salem that was tainted with jealousy, ego, fear, and superstition. In this time 200 people were put on trial for being a witch and aligning themselves with the devil, and even 20 were executed (Blumberg). In the Puritan tradition of hypocrisy, the tolerance they sought in the New World was not extended to the Quakers, who were put in a similar position of seeking a place to worship freely. The Puritans were very particular about their beliefs and they believed that any religion that was not strictly Anglican were heretics, and, unfortunately for the Quakers, they fell into the category of being against the Anglican church and were persecuted for it (Faulkner). In the story, Goodman Brown seemed oblivious to the fact his father and grandfather had committed acts that may have been viewed as cruel and in modern day view against the word of Jesus. The second time Goodman Brown s faith is put to the test is when he realizes that Goody Cloyse, his Sunday school teacher, the minister and Deacon Gookin are also in line with the devil. My broomstick hath strangely disappeared, stolen I suspect, by that unhanged witch, Goody Cory, and that, too, when I was all anointed with the juice of smallage, and cinquefoil, and wolfs bane. In this we can see that Goody Cloyse is a witch, which was a very prevalent fear back in puritan times. Not only is Cloyse a witch, but she also mentions Goody Cory being a witch, which leads Goodman to wonder who else in his sheltered little village could be a witch. Deacon Gookin and the minister also have a moment in which they show where their true colors lie. They tell me that some of our community are to be here from Falmouth and beyond, and others from Connecticut and Rhode Island, besides several of the Indian powwows, who, after their fashion, know
Norman 6 almost as much deviltry as the best of us (Hawthorne). This indicates how widespread the grasp of the devil has reached. Not only have the people he lives with succumbed to the devil, but those in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The last of Goodman Brown s faith is taken when he realizes that his beloved wife, Faith, is a follower of the devil. My Faith is gone! cried he, after one stupefied moment. There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given. To Goodman Brown, Faith was a sweet, pure, and innocent girl. When he found out that even she followed down the path of evil, there was really no hope for the rest of mankind. Even her name Faith can be viewed as symbolic in the story. In a way, when Faith his wife was gone, his faith in his religion left as well. A Puritan s faith was everything to him; his whole life was centered on going to church and being pure for God. In the story, Goodman Brown s faith is constantly put to the test through seeing the people around him, teachers and religious leaders fall into witchcraft, the work of the devil. However, it is not until the pink ribbon falls from the sky, signifying that Faith has fallen into the practice, that Goodman Brown completely loses all signs of faith in his religion and thusly fails his Journey of Justification. In the end, Goodman Brown fails to complete his Journey of Justification. The purpose of the Journey of Justification is for a Puritan to gain insight into his own sin. In Goodman Brown s journey he was eventually lead to evil himself. Ha! Ha! Ha! roared Goodman Brown when the wind laughed at him Let us hear which will laugh loudest. Think not to frighten me with your deviltry. Come witch, come wizard, come Indian powwow, come devil himself, and here comes Goodman Brown. You may as well fear him as he fear you. This is basically saying that witches, wizards, and Indians should be
Norman 7 as afraid of Goodman Brown as he is of them. Also in this part of the story Goodman Brown has taken the serpentine staff of the old man, which might symbolize that he is passing through the threshold from being good and unknowing and towards the path of evil. By putting the serpentine staff in the story, Hawthorne puts in a reference to the original sin, from which starts the turmoil that has faced mankind since the days of Adam and Eve. Furthermore, other than the belief of predestination, the consequences of this original sin are one of the bases of the Puritan s Journey of Justification. The event of him laughing at the wind while saying that fear should fear him all shows that Goodman Brown did not learn about his own sins and in fact only led him deeper into the world of the devil. In Young Goodman Brown, after Goodman Brown has lost his faith he encounters the witch s ceremony, the true epicenter of evil. The leader of the ceremony is the devil himself. Everyone in the town is there at the ceremony and Goodman Brown has seen that there is no good in this world, and at one point Goodman Brown is welcomed by the devil and his followers because he is human, and because of this he is naturally a sinner. Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome again, my children, to the communion of your race. At this point in the story Goodman Brown is, in a way, being baptized into the race of witches, wizards, and Indians. He is very skeptical of the whole ceremony until he sees the figure of a young woman who is none other than Faith, his devoted, innocent wife, being welcomed into this hellish cult. Goodman Brown is in hysterics for the purity of his young wife he loves so much and begs her not to look up to the devil and his tricks, which she fails. He finally sees there is no hope in this New World for anyone. Everyone is evil except for
Norman 8 Goodman Brown of course; he views himself as the only one to be sin free. This is in fact against the whole Journey of Justification, as the bible states that Jesus Christ is the only person who is completely sin free. By breaking this belief he has failed to see the error of his ways and has therefore not appeased God. In the end, Goodman Brown did not complete his Journey of Justification. He did not accept that he, himself, was sinful but instead only saw the sins in everyone else. On Sabbath day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain. His Journey was meant to enlighten him so he could see all of his sins and see that he was a flawed man but instead only brought him down to the point where he couldn t sleep with his wife, go to church without cringing, and looked at everyone as if they had a deal with the devil. In fact, the story tells us that he died a lonely old man with no word of hope on his headstone. He was not saved because he didn t learn anything from the Journey and ultimately chose the path of evil and the devil instead of the path of God (McHugh). In conclusion, the history of the Puritans starts out as a quest for religious tolerance in the midst of the Reformation, which leads them to the New World. Despite their want of religious tolerance, the Puritans were surprisingly hypocritical of the new world around them. In their own community they frowned upon any individual difference of any kind, and if there was any resistance to this belief the Puritans were either banished from the community or forced to believe in their views. A belief that was very common in Puritan society was the rite of passage or the Journey of Justification. It is on Goodman Brown s journey to discover his sins that he realizes his safe little community
Norman 9 of Salem might not have been as safe and good as he thought it was. In the midst of the wilderness is where Goodman Brown not only sheds his faith in his religion but also aligns himself with the devil. He ultimately fails his journey and is not saved in the eyes of God because instead of seeing his mistakes and sins he views himself as the only person in the world who is completely sin free. The time of the Puritans in America only lasted around 100 years and it is clear to see why. With events like King Philips War, the Salem witch trials, and the persecution of other religions such as the Quakers, they trapped themselves in a place filled with superstition, intolerance, and violence. Unfortunately, the Puritans reign in America did not last long, as other countries came to settle in this New World and drove the Puritan religion to extinction. With all this said, the Puritans were one of the first settlers here in America, and without their role in history, the America we know today may not exist. In Hawthorne s story, we are given a glimpse into the world back then, a world plagued with fear and the unknown, yet despite this, the Puritans are still part of the American history that students all over our country learn about from a young age.
Norman 10 Works Cited Blumberg, Jess. "Smithsonian.com." Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Museum, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/briefsalem.html>. Faulkner, Andrew. "Why the Puritans Persecuted Quakers." The Historic Present. N.p., 2 July 2008. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://thehistoricpresent.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/why-the-puritanspersecuted-quakers/>. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Short Stories: Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne." Short Stories: Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://www.eastoftheweb.com/shortstories/ubooks/yougoo.shtml>. Heyrman, Christine L. "Puritanism and Predestination, Divining America, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center." Puritanism and Predestination, Divining America, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center. National Humanities Center, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/puritan.htm>. Johnson, Claudia D. Www.hawthorneinsalem.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/literature/faith&religion/frameworkoffait h/mmd1504.html>. Johnson, Claudia G. "Young Goodman Brown and Puritan Justification." Short Story Criticism. Anna J. Sheets ed. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 200-03. Print.
Norman 11 "King Philip." King Philip. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/enquirer/king_philip.htm>. Koernig, Bob, and Ted Siebold. "The Puritans." Www.gettysburg.edu. Gettysburg College, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. <http://www3.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/hist106web/site15/bobs/puritanbeliefpa ge11.htm>. McHugh, Diana. "The Difficulty Of Choosing Good Over Evil." Literary Theme: The Difficulty Of Choosing Good Over Evil. N.p., Mar. 2006. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. <Literary Reference Center>. Reuben, Paul P. "PAL: American Puritanism: A Brief Introduction." PAL: American Puritanism: A Brief Introduction. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2013. <http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/1intro.html>.