Tag Archives: “Young Goodman Brown”

Uncategorized, Week 4

“Young Goodman Brown” and “Metamorphosis”

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In “Young Goodman Brown,” the young Goodman Brown finally follows the devil after hesitating for a while on the way in the forest. He thinks about his wife Faith resisting him from leaving her alone that night, and his Christianity as well. However as he arrives at the place in the middle of forest, he sees all these people whom he thought they are good Christians, including his wife. After that night, he lives sad, confusing and dark life. In the last paragraph of the story, “Be it so, if you will. But, alas! It was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream.” He couldn’t trust his or all other people’s Christianity on the Sabbath-day after he saw people in the town followed the devil that night. He feels guilty but at the same time mistrusts Christians including his wife and himself until he dies. Therefore when he dies, “they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom.”(Last sentence)

In “Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, the main character Gregor Samsa “found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.” (Paragraph 1) He worked hard to support his family but after he transformed into an insect, his family trapped him in his room and started avoiding him. His sister Grete was the only one who took care of him even after he became terrible looking insect, but even Grete started to ignore him and feel depressed about her brother’s appearance. Gregor used to be a head and a supporter of the family but now he became an insect that causes problems and hurt the family’s feeling. In the very last part of the story, it says “And, as if in confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions, as soon as they reached their destination Grete was the first to get up and stretch out her young body.” Throughout the story, the author’s voice was very gloomy and negative, but after the family confronted with Gregor’s death, the tone and mood of the story changes to positive sound.

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Glossary, Week 3

Unison

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Unison is an adjective

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary unison means:  At the same time, simultaneously.

Unison is used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the story, “Young Goodman Brown,” on page 7.   The narrator stated, Goodman Brown cried out, and his cry was lost to his own ear, by its unison with the cry of the desert.”

This means Goodman Brown cried out at the same time that the forest noises could be heard.  These noises prevented him or anyone from hearing his cries.

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Glossary

Firmament

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” While he gazed upward, into the deep arch of the firmament, and..” (47)
Firmament is the curve of the sky thought of as a solid object.
Firmament
fir·ma·ment
noun

1) The heavens or the sky, especially when regarded as a tangible thing.
2) A sphere or world viewed as a collection of people.
“one of the great stars in the American golfing firmament”
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Week 4

Metamorphosis and Young Goodman Brown

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I think “Metamorphosis” by Frank Kafka  could be read metaphorically. This could easily represent a story of someone who got very sick and the family can’t deal with him in the condition he is in. Not only do they have to care for him (and guard him from sight), they now have to go to work since he cannot support them anymore.

Throughout the story he gets to be more and more of a burden, and he slowly gets more and more neglected.  When his mother and sister try to help him out and rearrange his room, he is spotted by his mother (who couldn’t bear to see him in that state) and she faints.

Near the end, Grete is trying to convince her parents to “get rid of it” (Gregor isn’t referred to as he at this point). At this point we see that he is nothing but a burden to the family. This can (sadly enough) be a metaphor for someone withering away in a coma. He can understand them and hears more than think, but cannot communicate with them. When they were getting near the point of “pulling the plug”, Gregor passed on, relieving the family of their tremendous burden.

 

In the first few paragraphs of “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Brown is talking to Faith, his wife. It seems that at the same time Faith could also be a personification of his actual faith.  “Faith kept me back awhile” (12) is a great line. At this point in the story the reader doesn’t know where Brown is heading, only that is something bad.  He was kept back by his wife, but also by his belief, and his knowledge that what he is doing is wrong.

Essentially Goodman is in fact a good man and changes his mind before committing the evil deed. “My Faith is gone” he cried after hearing his wife is there with the sinners. This is referring to  his wife but can also mean he lost the faith he so barely held onto moments before.

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Homework, Week 4

“Young Goodman Brown”

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In “Young Goodman Brown,” the following passage stood out and defined the story to me:

“Be it so if you will; but, alas! it was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man did he become, from the night of that fearful dream. On the Sabbath day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed strain. When the minister spoke from the pulpit with power and fervid eloquence, and, with his hand on the open Bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss or misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers. Often, waking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith; and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer, he scowled and muttered to himself, and gazed sternly at his wife, and turned away. And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave a hoary corpse, followed by Faith, an aged woman, and children and grandchildren, a goodly procession, besides neighbors not a few, they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom.”

After Brown’s dreadful dream, he started to view everyone differently. From his dream, he has seen what people are or could be capable of. So he distrusted the whole village, including his wife, Faith. He basically spent the rest of his life trying to avoid contact with people, for he was frightened by them.  I presume the message that Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to give in this story is that some people have a hidden personality, and they have a great way of hiding it.

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Homework, Week 4

“THE METAMORPHOSIS” (RESPONSE BLOG)

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“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka was a very interesting read. To me as a reader, it stood out big time because of how surreal it feels when you read it. The way Kafka wrote also used added to the surrealism. One example being the injury Gregor sustained. I could picture those apples and the apple that remained lodged in his flesh as “a visible reminder of his injury.” The struggles he had as a bug can also be pictured. He wasn’t human anymore so of course there would be massive change one main part being his image and feelings from family/loved ones.

It’s sad to see family turn against you. He was “useless” to them and he brought a burden with his transformation. With his presence as a bug, he couldn’t provide for his family and no profit could come with him there. Pretty much, it added greater struggle to the household and frustrated everyone. He morphed from being the carry of the household, to an outcast ignored by his family. What’s also messed up is the fact that his death wasn’t really noticed or mourned. His family just let it go can acted like Gregor never existed even if he was the reason the family was still living under a roof and eating.

“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka was indeed a very interesting read. It was a nightmare at its finest. It’s something that I’d be afraid of. Losing your humanity and the love from your family. Now that’s terrifying. The word kafkaesque is defined as the nightmarish writing style of Kafka. Reading this story did in fact feel like a nightmare which is why it stood out to me. Realism in Fiction is something I like and this story brought it to me. It also brought something I fear and that is to be turned against by the people you are really close to. Luckily the chances of that happening are low but it’s still something to fear. I now just hope reading this doesn’t bring me a similar nightmare.

 

 

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Homework, Week 4

My Thoughts on “Young Goodman Brown” and “Metamorphosis”

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In Young Goodman Brown, I believe that the devil was having a meeting with Mr. Brown in order to persuade Mr. Brown to worship him (Page 2, p.13). This is greatly exemplified with Mr. Brown stating that his father “never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him and that his race was of honest men and good Christians, since the days of the martyrs” (Page 3, p.17). Mr. Brown also states that his family was a “people of prayer and good works and that they abide no such wickedness” (Page 3, p.19). However, the devil claims to Mr. Brown that he had been “well acquainted with his family, that he helped his father and grandfather, and that both were good friends to him” (Page 3, p.18). Mr. Brown denied the devil’s invitation because he wanted to stick to the faith that he grew up in, saw that it was not morally right, and did want to let his wife, Faith, be saddened by his wicked decision. The story gets very interesting at the end when Mr. Brown sees people from his town, that he thought was devout Christians, chanting demonic incantations, in a ritual like communion, even his wife was involved (Page 8, p. 56-Page 10, p.69). Therefore, Hawthorne was allegorically stating that people can put a façade of being holy or pious but are really not what they display because they can be living a hidden life of sin that can only be discovered through revelation.

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor transformed from a human travelling salesman into an insect, whether it was a cockroach or beetle, all I could say was “eeeewwww” throughout the duration of my reading. This is greatly exemplified when Gregor wakes up to find his human body transformed on his bed. He discovered that he had “many legs” (Page I, p.1), that his voice was “beginning to sound more like an animal” (Page I, p.20), and that he “lacked any teeth” (Page I, p.22). When Gregor tried to excuse himself for his tardiness to the visiting chief clerk from his job, the whole family, including the chief clerk, was mortified to see what Gregor had become. So, Gregor’s father began to chase Gregor with a stick until he returned to his room (Page I, p.26). In that process of being pushed into his room, “a side of Gregor’s body was painfully injured, leaving vile brown flecks on his white door” (Page I, p.26). This is the point of the story that truly shows that Gregor is a disgusting pest. All I kept thinking was that “he is a cockroach.” Also, I thought about the times I have killed a cockroach. Whenever I would finish stepping on a roach, I would always see smeared brown flecks from the dead roach on the bottom of my shoes, eeeewww.

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Glossary

Pious

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  • Pious – adjective -deeply religious; devoted to a particular religion; falsely appearing to be good or moral via merriam-webster.com
  • Encountered in the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne,  paragraph forty-seven.
  • “Once the listener fancied that he could distinguish the accents of t owns – people of his own, men and women, both pious and ungodly, many of whom he had met at the communion table, and had seen others rioting at the tavern.” – Narrator
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Homework Instructions, Week 4

Blogging on “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Metamorphosis”

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We have read two very different stories for our in-person class discussion this week: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.” For your homework blog post this week, choose one passage you think exemplifies the story, stands out as the moment that defines the story for you. Quote that passage, and then write what you understand it to be saying and what your analysis of it is. You might include questions you have about it, or questions to prompt discussion among your classmates. If you have done any outside research (either to help you understand the story, or to look into the term Kafkaesque, or to look at the images from the graphic novel adaptation of “The Metamorphosis”) that helped you understand the passage, please link to it in your post.

Then read the other posts and click Like for the one or two you would like to talk about in class. I’ll include the most liked posts in our class discussion.

Note: you might click Like for a passage, or for the way the post’s author has written about it. You might not like the passage itself, but it should be one that you want discussed in class–and that you are willing to talk about. You can certainly like your own post.

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Discussion, Week 3

“Young Goodman Brown”

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In the story “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne the type of narration used includes third person omniscient.   With this type of narration the narrator gives the reader information from anywhere in the story.  Therefore, the narrator is able to give information even when the setting changes.   The narrative style is also third person limited because the narrator is only able to give information about what is in the mind of the point-of -view character, Goodman Brown.  The narrator does not have access to the thoughts of other characters.  The narrator does have access to the feelings of some of the flat characters.  This is noted on page 8 where the narrator stated, “… and fair young girls who trembled lest their mothers espy them.”

The narrator begins to tell the story from the setting of Young Goodman Brown’s home as he is about to leave home on his mysterious journey.  The setting changes as Goodman Brown continues on his journey through Salem Village and into the woods.  On page two Hawthorne wrote,  “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest.”   The narration continues even when Goodman Brown leaves the setting of his fellow traveler and hides in the bushes.  While he is hidden the narrator gives narration from Goodman Brown’s hiding place  and also from the Goodman Brown’s companion and Goody Cloyse.

The wording of the story indicates this is truly third person as the narrator does not take part in the story.  For example, Hawthorne wrote,  “Friend, said he…” on page 5.  On page 1, “Poor little faith thought he.”  Also on page 7, “My Faith is gone!, cried he.”

Third person limited narration continues when the narrator gives an insight into the thoughts and feelings of Young Goodman Brown. This on page 5 when Goodman Brown had apparently changed his mind about continuing his unchristian like journey.   “The young man sat a few moments by the road-side, applauding himself greatly, and thinking with how clear a conscience he should meet the minister on his morning walk, nor shrink from the eye of Deacon Gookin.”

The narrator has not given readers an understanding of why Goodman Brown decides to go an this journey that he knew was   against his christian values.  He came to his senses and does restrain himself for a moment from going further, but when he saw the pink ribbons belonging to his wife her presence there propelled him onward.   Goodman brown is rather naive because along the journey he hid himself from the sight of Goody Cloyse, his pastor and the deacon.  All of whom he had no doubt were good christian.   His companion laughed at him on page 3 when he said, “…how should I meet the eye of that good old man, our minister, at Salem Village?  Oh his voice would make me tremble, both Sabbath-day and lecture-day.”   His companion laughed because he knew these people were all hypocrites who professed Christianity but who were also devil worshipers.  He also knew all these  people  would be in attendance when they reached their destination.   Goodman Brown at this point was in for a surprise.

 

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