Discussion Questions Question 1 Emerson’s main points about being American and having self-confidence are entailed in The American Scholar, in which he encourages his compatriots to have the courage to break themselves from their colonizer’s intellectual ideas (Emerson, n.d). He relates The American Scholar to The Snow Storm, in which the cold wind shapes everything on its path and overpowers artificial features (Poetryfoundation.org, n.d). Therefore, like the wind, the American has the might to craft his fate in the manner he desires. Question 2 (a) Hawthorn uses duality as an opposing force of human nature to expose the weakness of morality. For instance, in Young Goodman Brown, the devil gives the main character a staff of evil, but he refuses (Hawthorne, n.d.). However, Goody Cloyse, a catechist who once taught him when he was young, receives the staff and praises the devil but still practices catechism during the day. Question 2 (b) Hawthorne believes sin is an inevitable part of the human condition that cannot be forgiven. In Young Goodman Brown, Goody Cloyse is the evilest character because she worships two masters, God and the Devil (Hawthorne, n.d.). When Mr. Brown returns from his expedition, he snatches children away from Cloyse and is hostile to his wife because he believes everyone is evil and that only children can be saved from corruption. Question 3 Hawthorne views sin as a corruption of humankind, as witnessed in Young Goodman Brown, in which people sin out of greed. In contrast, Poe considers personifies sin as death. For instance, The City of Sin talks about how everything, good, bad, worst, and the best, finds its way to a dark city where death is king (Poe, n.d.). Question 4 A narrator is crucial because he gives the audience a point of view (POV), which is influential in determining a story’s outlook. For instance, Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat are told from a first-person subjective POV. Therefore, the narrator tells the audience his feelings, thoughts, and ideas, thus captivating them by putting them in the narrator’s shoes. References Emerson, R. W. (n.d.). The American Scholar. Emerson Central. https://emersoncentral.com/ebook/The-American-Scholar.pdf Hawthorne, N. (n.d.). Young Goodman Brown. North Virginia Community College. https://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eng125/young-goodman-brown_psychoanalytic-reading.pdf Poe, E. A. (n.d.). The City of Sin. Epoe. https://www.eapoe.org/works/poems/cityseab.htm Poetryfoundation.org. (n.d.). The Snow Storm. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45872/the-snow-storm-56d22594aa595
