Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Directions: Answer each of the following questions in complete sentences.
1. What thoughts prompt the appearance of Goodman Brown’s guide? What are some of
his strange qualities? Why, for example, does he resemble an older version of Brown
himself, and carry a snake-like staff?
2. Why would Satan look so much like Brown himself? Why is that creepier than a
demon with horns and pitchfork and cloven hooves?
3. Are the narrator’s descriptions always an accurate guide to events? Find evidence to
prove your answer.
4. What means does the devil use to persuade Brown to continue his journey to the
devil’s baptism? What are the stages of Brown’s gradual disillusionment? Whom does he
encounter on his journey? What do many of these secret sinners seem to have in
common?
5. Brown declares that he has "lost his faith." Faith in what, exactly? God or something
else?
6. If they consent to the devil’s "baptism," what evil fate will overtake Goodman Brown
and Faith?
7. By what act does Goodman Brown break the evil spell? What is the effect of his words
on Faith? Why does he abjure her to resist evil, rather than himself? In what state does he
find himself after his shout of resistance?
8. What lasting effect does Brown’s experience have on him, on his perception of others,
and on his family life? What expected solace is absent from his tombstone? On what
basis does the narrator say of him, "his dying hour was gloom."
9. How does the nighttime wilderness serve as a foil for the daytime village in this story?
10. When describing the events in the woods, Hawthorne repeatedly uses ambiguous
language in diction like seems, must, appears, perhaps, and maybe. Why does Hawthorne
want to leave all this so ambiguous? Why not tell us clearly whether something is
happening or not happening?
11. Reflect on the way in which Hawthorne's grandfather was connected with the Salem
witch trials. How might that familial guilt have influenced Hawthorne's depiction of the
Puritans? How is this influence evident in the story Young Goodman Brown.