Elements that Contribute to Tone In YGB and “Race with the Devil”
Tone: Grim, dark, paranoid, Satanic, mysterious, devious, can’t trust your
sensory input; hallucinatory.
YGB
Vocabulary:
Dark clad company
Serpent
Deviltry
Characterization:
Names: Faith, Young Goodman Brown
Old Man w/Twisted Staff (serpent)
Setting:
Woods/Shadows/Indians behind trees
Clearing:
Altar: Trees aflame
Mechanic straight out of
Plot:
YBG is on his way to a Satanic ceremony
a meeting of witches
Good vs. Evil
Virtually All his neighbors harbor
evil secrets
RwtD
Dialog; Music:
Chanting; diminished minor
chord; Lighting, Imagery
(specific example)
Lots of screaming
Paranoia: Facial expressions,
Dialog “Everyone is staring at
me.”
“Sensitive Girl” screaming;
paranoid: Camera: her POV
Dog: Early Warning System
Isolation; middle of nowhere;
(phones all down, etc.)
Clearing on Plateau: Fire in
front of Goth-looking tree
Backwards; xenophobic;
Country bumpkin sheriff
Most things happen at night;
Devil worshippers;
human sacrifice;
Everyone in the town(s)
seems to be in on it.
Killed the dog; snakes
Film stuff:
Everyone seemed to be after them:
Car chase: 3 vehicles—tow truck, pickup, and a moving van
 Car chase 2: The whole school bus accident: a setup
HUGE conspiracy: Had to have kids involved, crashed bus,
tractor, LOTS of people around
“I don’t believe a school bus on Sunday.” Paranoia? Small town might
use the school bus on a Sunday.
Weird looks:
 Weird guy telling a joke in the store
 Gas guy peering in window
Isolation:
 Just the four of them
 Two phones are down—coincidentally? Operator?
 Everyone staring at the pool
 Places are unlit
 Lots of fields, no civilization
 Motorcycles were disabled
Rising Action:
 Being chased
 Climb on board
 Pour gasoline down the vent
 Pull guns
Writing Assignment for
“Young Goodman Brown” and “Race with the Devil”
This essay is about similarities. Both YGB and RwtD are dark pieces.
Their tone is dark, confusing, gothic; dream-like; creepy; distrustful;
desperate; alone; PARANOID; morose.
One is a movie; one is a two-hundred-year-old story. The techniques used
to create tone are different. Compare how Nathaniel Hawthorne uses
vocabulary, setting and plot to achieve the tone he does to the devices the
filmmakers use to create tone in their piece.
Note Bene: This essay is about the DEVICES and TECHNIQUES used by
author and director/filmmaker. The key point is HOW the devices are used
to create tone, i.e. a word choice like “dark clad company” raises an
ominous, gothic and dark feeling (whereas something like “gaily attired
trio” has a MUCH different feeling and tone . . .). Just mentioning that
things are similar is not enough.
Standard essay—same rubric as was used for the Sleepy Hollow essay.
How do the author and filmmaker use literary and film
techniques to create the same tone?