Stefi Atanaskovic Professor McKeever English 1010 9 December 2013 Word Count: 503 On The Problem of Evil Nathaniel

Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and D.H Lawrence's "The Rocking Horse Winner," both include the presence of evil in the story. The young boy named Paul in The Rocking Horse Winner is presented with the evil of the rocking horse, which is a form of temptation. In Young Goodman Brown, temptation is also presented by Goodman Brown being tempted to work with the devil. Both stories involve temptation, which is a form of evil presented in both stories and the characters deal with their temptation in very different ways. In The Rocking Horse Winner, our main character, Paul wanting his mother to be lucky, uses his rocking horse to predict horse races. He puts wagers on who will win and is generally successful. He goes into business with one of the workers at his house and the team did fairly well with the predictions that Paul made. However, the young boy became obsessed with winning, and it destroyed him. Unlike, Young Goodman Brown, this character gives into temptation and loses his life because of it. The evil that exists in this is temptation. Consumed by wanting to take care of his family and solve their money issues, he becomes more and more dependent on the rocking horse. He slowly starts to lose his mind as he is driven harder and harder by his determination to win and fulfill his wishes. He wanted to give his mother the life

that she wanted, which could only be delivered by money. He became obsessed with the evil that was victory by cheating. The tale of Young Goodman Brown is slightly different from The Rocking Horse Winner. Young Goodman Brown is tempted by the devil, but his love for his wife, Faith, is enough to deliver him from temptation. Young Goodman Brown was tempted by evil, but did not succumb to such. In this story, had he gave in to the evil, he would be doing it against love. Whereas in The Rocking Horse, the boy gave into the evil for the love he had for his mother. In The Rocking Horse Winner, the boy wanted his mother to be happy, so he did what he thought was necessary. In Young Goodman Brown, Goodman he doesnt give in to the evil for not only himself, but Faith. His love keeps him from falling into temptation. That is where our two stories are opposites. Presented by evil, our main characters and plots are very different. One of our characters gives in to evil in the name of love, while our other main character sustains because of his love. They have completely different reactions on the problem of evil. The user of the rocking horse gives in to temptation which ultimately destroys him. Oppositely, Young Goodman Brown is tempted but does not give in. Both of our stories contain the problem of evil, but the problem is dealt with in two very different ways.