Young Goodman Brown Introduction

Young Goodman Brown Introduction

With a title like "Young Goodman Brown," you're probably expecting a fun romp about a bright-eyed lad strolling merrily through the forest, pretty much like a 19th-century Disney cartoon. Maybe even with some cute squirrels.

Not so fast. More like evil, witchcraft, and the sudden loss of innocence.

"Young Goodman Brown" is one of Hawthorne's signature stories—even if it didn't exactly make Nathaniel Hawthorne famous. (That would be The Scarlet Letter.) So you can think of "Young Goodman Brown" (published in 1835) as a kind of preview of The Scarlet Letter (1850): all the same themes, many fewer pages.

"Young Goodman Brown" deals with some heavy stuff: the grip of the past, the power of social expectations, and the transformation of a single person's entire way of living. Sound good? Yeah, to us, too. But for some reason, Hawthorne repeatedly decided not to include "Young Goodman Brown" in his early collections of stories. Why? Did he underestimate what he'd written?

He wouldn't be alone. Herman Melville (the brains behind Moby-Dick) reacted to "Young Goodman Brown" the exact same way. At first, he assumed that it "was a simple little tale, intended as a supplement to 'Goody Two Shoes'" (Melville, "Hawthorne and His Mosses"). But when he actually sat down to read the thing, he decided that it was a work of disturbing genius.

So what can we learn from this, silly title and all? For one thing, "Young Goodman Brown" itself is a story about looking deeper. Its hero is a mild-mannered Puritan named young Goodman Brown (duh) who believes that he can see deep down into the corrupt soul of his community. And that's just what we have to do: think (and see) deeper.

What is Young Goodman Brown About and Why Should I Care?

Aside from water-skiing animals, some kinds of news stories seem to show up whenever there's a slow news day. Like rich philanthropists who turn out to be white-collar crooks. Or seemingly idealistic politicians who make shady deals. Or famous athletes with drinking problems. Or religious leaders doing not-so-religious things.

Yeah, stories about good appearances and bad realities are everywhere. And "Young Goodman Brown" is one of them.

But (as you could probably guess) it's more complicated than good versus evil, or good that really is evil; instead, it's a story about how evil is perceived and interpreted. When he encounters evil and hypocrisy, young Goodman Brown has some stunningly complex reactions. He's sometimes angry, sometimes intimidated, sometimes saddened, and, sometimes, excited and intoxicated by what he sees. You know, like watching a mafia movie and rooting for the bad guys.

Despite these complicated reactions, young Goodman Brown thinks that his situation is pretty simple. As he sees it, his hometown of Salem might as well be called Hypocrisyland, Massachusetts.

If you're a kid growing up in a small town, you've felt this. (If you're not—well, maybe you've seen it on TV.) He's a small-town kid with high ideals who thinks he knows better than everyone else around him, and he's in for a big surprise: the world isn't nearly as simple as he thinks it is.

So, young Goodman Brown's dilemmas may be Puritan, but they're also surprisingly universal. Is the world really as bad as we think it is? Better? Worse? Hawthorne's story is here to remind us that there are no easy answers.

Young Goodman Brown Resources

Websites

The Hawthorne Society of America
Where the Hawthorniest of the Hawthorniest come together.

Welcome to Mr. Hawthorne's Neighborhood.
Everything you wanted to know about Hawthorne, and probably a little bit more.

Evil Deeds
Want to see what some of Hawthorne's ancestors were getting up to? Check out the Salem Witch Museum.

Movie or TV Productions

"Young Goodman Brown" Goes to France
Nathaniel Hawthorne is as American as American authors get. But, strangely enough, the first movie adaptation of "Young Goodman Brown" was made by the French in 1959. Read up on it here.

…Then Re-Crosses the Atlantic
And here's some information about a more recent movie version—American this time, and kind of new (1993). Okay, so it really isn't that new. Were you even around in 1993?

Articles and Interviews

Hawthorne's Life and Loves
Fun facts about our author, courtesy of Shmoop.

More Tasty Brain Snacks
More fun facts! This time from the folks at Encyclopedia Britannica.

And ANOTHER Hawthorne Biography
See what great American novelist Henry James had to say about Hawthorne and his work.

Images

Don't Turn the Lights Off
A summary of "Young Goodman Brown" with eerie, mood-setting artwork.

"Young Goodman Brown" Comic Book
Still waiting on YGB action figures, but this will do for now.

Once More, with Cats
Seriously. All the characters are cats.