Young Goodman Brown – Losing Faith Essay, Research Paper
In the book Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Goodman Brown wife’s name is important to the story because Goodman Brown loses his faith but his wife Faith keeps her faith. The story takes place in a puritan town in Salem back when there believed to be witches. Goodman Browns grandfather and relatives took part in killing and beating the witches in town. The story starts out on a cold night on a special day of the year.
That night Goodman Brown took a trip into the forest and told his wife Faith that he had to do business. Faith did not want Goodman Brown to leave but he had to leave and left here there sad. As Goodman Brown left he thought to himself, “Well; she’s a blessed angel on earth; and after this one night, I’ll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven.” (Pg. 134) This is where he begins to second-guess himself about going on this trip. But he carries on and gets to the meeting place where the devil comes out and asks Goodman Brown what took him so long to get there and he replies “Faith kept me back awhile.” (p.g134) This quote is important because Goodman Brown is stating that he was thinking about his faith and whether he should go against his faith or keep his faith and decides to go against his faith. Goodman Brown loses his faith when in the forest on his way to the black mass. Goodman Brown hears the voice of his wife faith crying and screaming through the forest. And all of a sudden “something came fluttered lightly down though the air, and caught on the branch of a tree. The young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon.” (Pg. 140) This is the part in the story where Goodman Brown has lost his faith because the pink ribbons represent his faith. When Goodman Brown returns to the town he now longer has any faith therefore he doesn’t trust anyone and ends up living a miserable life.
In the story the name for Goodman Brown’s wife suits her well because she never losses her Faith and shows the true meaning of the word. “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.” (Pg. 133) In the story Faith strays into the woods but when she is asked to join the devil she doesn’t and goes back home. And when she gets back home she once again has the pink ribbons in her hair like she did in the beginning of the story. She still goes to church and is happy and merry like she was at the beginning of the story.
What does is mean to lose your faith? In the dictionary the word faith mean, a confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. So that means that if you lose your faith you lose your whole belief system and all you trust in everyone. In life you need faith in order to be happy because faith helps you decide whether something you are doing is wrong or right. If you did not have faith you would not live a happy life because you would have no one to talk to because you would have trust no one and you would end up being unhappy like Goodman Brown and dying without anything on your grave.
In order to live a happy life you need faith because you need something to believe in. But unlike Goodman Brown he lost and his faith and his wife Faith kept her faith and lived a happy life.