Themes

2 Pages 620 Words

The theme of a story represents the central conflict going on over the course of the whole
story. A story can have several themes at one time. “Young Goodman Brown”, written by
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an example of a story with many themes. The two major themes
throughout the story are the conflict of good vs. evil and morality vs. temptation. Another
more minor theme in story is person vs. insanity.
In the theme of good vs. evil, Goodman Brown is faced with the decision of
staying with his Christian faith or joining the evil side. When hiking through the woods to
the Satan-worshiping spot with the other man, Goodman Brown wants to go back to
Salem to be with his wife since he kept up his end of the bargain. He tells the other man,
"Friend, having kept covenant by meeting thee here, it is my purpose now to return
whence I came."(132) He says this because he feels like he is betraying his religion by
staying with this man. Another way to relate this theme is that Goodman Brown seems
like the only person in the town who has not yet converted to Satanism so he may drop
his Christian ways just to be like everyone else. A final way to relate it is Goodman
Brown trying to protect his wife from becoming a Satanist. At the dark mass he attempts
to convince his wife that Satanism is not the way to go, and that she should maintain her
current Christian beliefs. This theme of good vs. evil covers the entire story because the
whole thing revolves around a man split between going to a Satanist mass or avoiding it
and remaining a Christian.
In the theme of morality vs. temptation, Goodman Brown has to either follow
what he knows is right, or do what everyone else is doing. One time when he encounters
this theme is when he thinks his wife is dead when he is out in the woods sitting. A pink
bow falls from the sky, lands in his hands, and he thinks his wife is gone. When this
happens he decides that the world is given to...