Essay Database

Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “Young Goodman Brown”(reprinted in Thomas r. Arp’s Story and Structure, 9th ed.[Fort Worth: Hardcourt,1998] 303-12)has an ambiguous quality that defines many of Hawthorn’s other works. He uses these loose ended stories to draw the reader in allowing him or her to make his or her own decisions as to the meaning of the story. In the case of “Young Goodman Brown” this ambiguity lets …

…in Brown’s position, forcing the reader to make a choice. This gives an added depth to Hawthorn’s writing, not just in the increased interaction of the reader with the story, but also by making the reader think about what both endings mean, and which holds the truth for the reader. This is Hawthorn’s intent; to involve the reader in the story by making the reader’s decisions synonymous with the protagonist’s.