Annotated Bibliography of Scholarly & Critical Essays/Sources

McCabe, Michael. "The Consequences of Puritan Depravity and Distrust as Historical

Context for Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"." American Literature Research and Analysis. Web. 2 May. 2012. <http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/hawthorne.htm>.

This critique is about the Puritan society and dealing with problems such as church and God. “Puritanism required their followers to doubt themselves and their community so much that a reality in which one could achieve Grace did not exist.  It taught that one could not trust anyone.  In the Witch Trials men turned on their accused wives just as Goodman Brown himself has lost both his spiritual faith and his wife Faith because of something that may not have happened at all.” I thought this article was very interesting because it states how Puritans are made to believe that they cannot trust anyone. In the end of Young Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown looks at everyone as evil and really doesn’t trust anything they say or do. I like how this critique explained Puritan ways because it gave me a better understanding of the story.

Gregory, Leslie. "The Text of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"."

American Literature Research and Analysis. Web. 2 May. 2012. <http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/hawthorne.htm>.

This critique explains the various images found in Young Goodman Brown. Some of the examples the author reviews are the Salem Village, the pink ribbons on Faith’s hat, the fellow traveler, the staff, and using of the word “faith”, and the forest. I found it to be interesting that the author noticed that the Salem village is the center of the witchcraft delusion. With all the evil noted in Goodman Brown it makes sense that Hawthorne would use a Salem village for this story. In my closer reading post I noted the pink ribbon and staff, which were used as symbols as innocence and evil. The author and I had the same ideas for these two items. It was interesting to read what someone else got out of the story and what images meant to them. 

Shoemaker, Jacqueline. "Hawthorne's Realm of Morality." American Literature

Research and Analysis. Web. 2 May. 2012. <http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/hawthorne.htm>.

This critique is about why Hawthorne wrote Young Goodman Brown and how his life played into the story. The author notes how Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, which was then a Puritan village. The author also states how Hawthorne spent one-third of his life in isolation. During this time Hawthorne tried to see two sides to every story, which increased his skepticism. I can see where Hawthorne would get the imagination to create such a short story because he had so much in common with what the story is about. Writing about evil and the devil when he lived in Salem, which is known for witches’ evil surroundings. Back then people didn’t like to talk about evil and they tried to hide it. I like how Hawthorne shows in his story that the minister and Deacon were in the forest but once it was over went back to living a “Christian” life. This shows that there is two sides to how people act in a public setting, and how people really want to be.