Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset, into the street of Salem village, but put his head back, after crossing the threshold, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap, while she called to Goodman Brown. “Dearest heart,” whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear, “pr’y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night.
A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she’s afeard of herself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year! ” “My love and my Faith,” replied young Goodman Brown, “of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done ‘twixt now and sunrise. What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married! “Then God bless you! ” said Faith, with the pink ribbons, “and may you find all well, when you come back. “Amen! ” cried Goodman Brown.
“Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee. ” So they parted; and the young man pursued his way, until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons. (par. 1-5) The beginning of Young Goodmen Brown readers are introduced to Goodman Brown and his wife of three months Faith. Brown is off on a unknown mission for the night but Faith is pleads with him not to go.
It is obvious through the introduction that Goodman Brown is the protagonist of Hawthorne’s short story and the point of view is from an anonymous onlooker. The very first sentence shows that the narrator is an nonparticipant because they are writing in third person, addressing Young Goodman Brown and referring to his and her throughout the passage. The nonparticipant narrator only sees events through the eyes of Goodman Brown resulting in limited omniscience, although it is being told in third person, we see the story as Goodman Brown sees and feels the situation of it.
The setting and tone are set in the introductory paragraphs. In Young Goodman Brown the first sentence gives us what we might expect throughout the short story. “came forth at sunset, into the street of Salem village”(304) Looking at this with an historically perspective the village Salem has significant historical of meaning. Salem is known for their brutal witch trials that took place in the late 1600s. Many innocent people were accused of being witched and a mass witch hunt tore through the village, killing many faultless people.
With Salem being a righteous Puritan village darkened by murders and history of witches, readers can suggest a dark religious view in the plot. With darkness and evil comes the opposite, shown with the characters portraying goodness. The characters introduced in the first passage in the story are Young Goodman Brown and his wife Faith. Hawthorne used these names given to the characters of Young Goodman Brown and Faith for significant meaning to the characters. Goodman is the title given to male Puritans that are the head of the house hold, his name symbolizes youth and simply enough being a good man.
His wife Faith has even further symbolism. “And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap”(304), suggests that Faith represents goodness and a pure-hearted character. Faith can also symbolize the representation of religion in the story and the main theme, loosing faith. As Goodman Brown leaves his wife Faith to go on his journey through the forest, he also leaves his “faith” religious purity behind. Not only does Hawthorne give symbolism to his characters names, but it is also shown in other items in the story.
In the passage above, Hawthorne writes Goodman and his wife in a conversation about his errand he must complete. Throughout the conversation, Faith’s pink ribbons are mentioned three times in those few paragraphs selected. Passages such as“letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap”(304), “”Then God bless you! ” said Faith, with the pink ribbons,”(304), “Faith still peeping after him, with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons. ”(305) are examples of the repetition and importance of this symbol. The first two quotes in Goodman’s and Faith conversation symbolizes the innocence that Faith has.
The colour pink represents innocence and purity, society personalizes pink with babies and children, as they are the most pure and innocent. Goodman and Faith are both youthful happy newly weds, and are both pure and untouched by evil. In the last quote, as Goodman departs into the forest, he is starting to doubt following through with it but turns back and sees Faith’s pink ribbons. This gives him reassurance that even with all evil that he may come across in the forest as long as he has his pure and innocent Faith he himself will not turn evil. Those first paragraphs in Young Goodman Brown, hold much importance and symbolism.
First it is observed that the narration in third person limited omniscience telling the reader that whoever the narrator is, they are not a character in the story and only can give insight and commentary through Young Goodman Brown. Then with the setting of Salem which sets up the tone for the reader, giving possible foreshadowing. Finally followed by much symbolism with the main characters names and their hidden meanings and the mentioned of Faith’s pink ribbons three times in that short passage. All of these elements in the first paragraphs help the reader understand the short story through analysis.
