In ‘Young Goodman Brown’ we follow Goodman Brown in his journey through the woods. The story starts off with Brown saying his last goodbyes to his wife Faith before he goes off. Faith tells him that she has been having bad dreams lately, and he suggested she prays and insures her that evil will not posses her. As he goes off into the woods, he feels like he should go back and be with his wife because of her state, but continues on. AS time passes, he meets a man named , who had a cane that resembled a serpent. As they travel together, the old man continuously tried to get Goodman to hold his cane, but Goodman had a bad feeling about him so he rejects him. He noted that he reminded him of the evil. The old man encountered a woman that Goodman knew and she called him the devil. He offers his staff and the lady proceeds to go to a ceremony in the middle of the woods with the devil. Goodmans curiosity drove him to see what this ceremony was all about. He arrives and witnesses an ungodly gathering of people that lived in his village, and later finds his wife was also there.
Some foreshadowing in the story that gave us hints in how the story ends is that his wife Faith had started getting bad dreams. Maybe it was Mr Brown dreaming wondering if he is in a dream himself.
One of the symbolic objects that played a role in the story was the old man. He represented the devil because of the way he possessed everyone he encountered, except for Goodman because he stayed loyal to god, and made them go to the ceremony in the woods with his cane, which resembled a serpent, which is a symbol of satan. One ironic bit was that his wife named Faith, who is described to have a pink ribbon tied to her hair, wasn’t able to keep her faith and was tempted by the devil.
