Try It
After reading Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," answer each question below.
1) What does the forest setting symbolize?
Answer: a world outside of Brown's own, which is frightening
2) What do the pink ribbons Faith puts in her hair symbolize?
Answer: her purity and youthfulness
3) What does the name Faith symbolize?
Answer: Christian faith
4) Who is the traveler in the forest?
Answer: the devil, disguised as a properly dressed gentleman around 50
5) What does Goodman Brown's decision to go into the forest suggest about his relationship with his wife?
Answer: he is doubtful and uncertain about his relationship with Faith
6) How does Goodman Brown view his actions in relation to his family history?
Answer: he believes he is the first of his "goodly" family to deal with satan
7) After his encounter in the forest with Goody Cloyse, Goodman Brown tries to resist the devil's temptations by raising what question?
Answer: Why should he care about what other people do because he should keep his faith and go his own way?
8) How does Goodman Brown react to his wife and others upon his return to Salem?
Answer: cold, sad, distrustful because he didn't know if what he experienced was a dream or reality
9) At what precise moment does Goodman Brown lose his faith?
Answer: when he sees the pink ribbons in the forest
10) Infer to what extent the readers are asked to agree with the devil's speech about evil being "the nature of mankind"
Answer: challenged to look inside themselves to see that all people have evil
11) What is the theme or message of the short story?
Answer: By turning away from one's community, one embraces the evils of thoughtlessness
12) Which is the best representation of theme: community, good vs. evil, loss of innocence?
Answer: all of them are the best representation