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Rob Shults2 – 1 – 08English 12 APYoung Goodman Brown
 Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story,
Young Goodman Brown
, is a story of a man who lostfaith in humanity. Goodman Brown is a naïve character who is unaware of many if the iniquitiesof which people he idolizes have committed. Goodman has many weaknesses; he is self righteous as well as naïve, but most of all Brown is conceited. Brown’s character traits areobvious throughout the short story. From the start, Goodman Brown shows conceit, and up untilthe very end Brown pays the consequences for his weaknesses.Brown shows conceit when he leaves Faith, his wife, behind in order to test his own willto resist evil. Faith, of course, is a metaphor for Goodman Brown’s faith in humanity as a whole.Brown is willing to leave his faith behind for the mere test of his own will; his over-confidence is blatant at this point. Of course, Brown is able to make excuses, such as “…after this on night I’llcling to her skirts and follow her to heaven”(Hawthorne, p. 1184), yet despite his excuses, thefact still remains-Brown is willing to give up his faith to test his will to resist temptation.Furthermore, Brown is self-righteous. He is arrogant in that he believes that none of hisfamily has sinned, yet when he learns that all of his family have an evil side. Even those whomhe idolizes, such as members of the church, are seen at the devil’s ceremony. Brown is indisbelief in that he cannot accept the fact that the people that he sees as pure and good are indeedevil in their own way. At this point, Brown pays the price for leaving his faith in humanity
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