The Effect of Color Imagery
Week 6, Day 27
OBJECTIVE
Students will complete a worksheet that shows their understanding of the symbolic nature,
emphasis and affect of Hawthorne’s use of color imagery in “Young Goodman Brown.”
MATERIALS
-Copies of “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
-8 Poster boards
-Colored markers
-Handouts with specific passages
-Copies of the worksheet (2 pages)
PREPARATION
Students will already have been given copies of “Young Goodman Brown” in class the week
before to read over the weekend, so they will be familiar with the text. Before class, I will
need to prepare poster boards with the names of colors written largely in the middle (red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, black, and brown). I will have also made enough copies of
the handouts and worksheets so that each student can have their own.
PROCEDURE
1. What do these colors symbolize? (20 minutes)
As the students come into class, they will notice that there are poster boards hanging
all around the room with different colors written on them. I will begin class by going
around the room and asking students to help me fill in the poster boards by telling
me what the colors make them think of. Because there I will be filling in 8 different
poster boards, I will be spending 2-3 minutes on each, taking as many suggestions as
time allows, encouraging students to not only say what the color makes them think
of, but why they think it does so.
2. Close look at passages from “Young Goodman Brown” (5-10 minutes)
I will pass out the handout with specific passages from the story, and give them fiveten minutes to read through it, encouraging them to think about why Hawthorne
chose the specific colors he did and what we are supposed to make of them.
3. Discussion and filling out worksheet (15-20 minutes)
After the students have re-read the specific passages, I will pass out the worksheet
that I will ask them to complete as we discuss Hawthorne’s use of color imagery in
“Young Goodman Brown.”
We will go through each of the four colors that are on the worksheet and talk about
what they symbolize in the story, why we think Hawthorne choose to emphasize
them and what affect they had on the overall story.
Also, I’ll ask students to think about how Hawthorne used repetition of these colors
throughout the text, and have them provide me with some examples. I will also ask
them how they think the text would be different if other colors were used.
4. Closing (5-10 minutes)
After having completed the worksheet, I will have students turn it into me. If any
student needs to take it home to complete it, I will ask that they bring it to me the
next day.
I will close the lesson by having students answer the following questions:
-What did you find valuable about today’s activity?
-How is color imagery an example of the working definition of symbolism that we
came up with as a class yesterday?
DISCUSSION IDEAS
Throughout the lesson, we will talk about Hawthorne’s use of color imagery in “Young
Goodman Brown.” Specific discussion ideas are pointed out in the procedure section of this
lesson plan.
ASSESSMENT
I will be informally assessing the students throughout the lesson based on how much they
are contributing to the different components of our class discussions. Students will also be
completing a worksheet that allows them to analyze Hawthorne’s use of color imagery in
“Young Goodman Brown.” They will be submitting this worksheet to me, and I will grade it
for completion. (Students will receive a check if they turn one in and a zero if they don’t.)
Because we are doing the worksheet as a class, students shouldn’t have any problems filling
them out, but I will allow them to take the worksheets home if they feel like they need more
time to complete them.
SOURCE OF ACTIVITY
My own mind
ILLINOIS STATE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS GOALS AND LEARNING
STANDARDS
1.C.4d Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose
of the material.
Students will be looking at specific passages from “Young Goodman Brown” that contain
color imagery and analyzing their symbolism and emphasis. They will then discuss how the
focus on these particular colors affects the overall story.
2.A.4a Analyze and evaluate the effective use of literary techniques (e.g., figurative
language, allusion, dialogue, description, symbolism, word choice, dialect) in classic and
contemporary literature representing a variety of forms and media.
Students will be learning about the use of color imagery as a form of symbolism in
Hawthorne’s story.
Passages from “Young Goodman Brown” containing color imagery:
PINK:
“And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street,
letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman
Brown.”
“So they parted; and the young man pursued his way until, being about to turn the
corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping
after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons.”
BLACK:
“But the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff,
which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might
almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent.”
“On he flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now
giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter
as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him.”
BLUE:
“He looked up to the sky, doubting whether there really was a heaven above him. Yet
there was the blue arch, and the stars brightening in it.”
BLACK and BLUE:
“The blue sky was still visible, except directly overhead, where this black mass of cloud
was sweeping swiftly northward.”
RED:
“The mass of foliage that had overgrown the summit of the rock was all on fire, blazing
high into the night and fitfully illuminating the whole field. Each pendent twig and leafy
festoon was in a blaze. As the red light arose and fell, a numerous congregation
alternately shone forth, then disappeared in shadow, and again grew, as it were, out of
the darkness, peopling the heart of the solitary woods at once.”
Color Imagery Worksheet
Name: ___________________________________________
Now that you have re-read specific passages from “Young Goodman Brown” that
referenced particular colors, complete this worksheet as we discuss our findings as a
class.
PINKWhat does it symbolize in the story?
Why does Hawthorne choose to emphasize it?
What affect does it have on the overall story?
BLACKWhat does it symbolize in the story?
Why does Hawthorne choose to emphasize it?
What affect does it have on the overall story?
BLUEWhat does it symbolize in the story?
Why does Hawthorne choose to emphasize it?
What affect does it have on the overall story?
REDWhat does it symbolize in the story?
Why does Hawthorne choose to emphasize it?
What affect does it have on the overall story?