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Department : English.
Program : BS English bridging (3rd B)
Subject : Literary theory.
Assignment : Questions/answers
Institution : NUML maim campus Islamabad.
Submitted to : Sir Doctor Yasir Arafat.
Section : B
Presented by : Sadam Hussain.
Roll No : SMB-21169
System ID : S-21- 22925
ANSWER TO QUESTION (1): In the story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne the
language is both concrete and abstract because it combines intangible things understood by the
mind and it also identifies things through the senses. Abstract diction refers to words that do not
appeal imaginatively to the reader's senses.

ANSWER TO QUESTION (2): Biblical Allusions: “Young Goodman Brown” contains a number of
allusions, mostly to the Bible. Because the focus of the story is on the 17th-century community of
Puritan colonists in Salem, and because Puritanism is a sect of Christianity, the story is rich with
images and symbols from the Christian Bible. The character of the devil himself is a biblical figure,
and his serpentine staff is an allusion to the snake in the Garden of Eden. There are also references
to the many customs and traditions of Christianity, from the swearing of a covenant and the taking
of communion to the observation of the Sabbath and the concept of Faith.

ANSWER TO QUESTION (3): symbols of Color and Light: In order to emphasize many themes,
Hawthorne incorporates symbols into his short story. The woods itself is perhaps the most
prominent symbol because it represents a place away from the boundaries of civilization. Here,
the townspeople shed their Puritanical masks. The dim and obscuring light in the woods highlights
the mysterious nature of Goodman Brown’s experience. Once the Black Mass begins, the dark
woods burst with red flashes of light, suggesting the wild, chaotic nature of the satanic
processions. Faith’s pink ribbon also serves as a powerful symbol.

The Use of Antonyms: Hawthorne makes use of a literary device known as the antonym,
sometimes called the antonym or eponym. An antonym is a name that is particularly appropriate
for the character or person to whom it belongs. Classic literary antonyms include
Shakespeare’s Harry Hotspur, James Joyce’s Stephen Daedalus, and Washington Irving’s Ichabod
Crane.

ANSWER TO QUESTION (4): The items sued in the short popular story are all literary devices,
allegory, allusions, foreshadowing, genre, imagery, irony, and mood etc.

ANSWER TO QUESTION (5): Moral and Religious Hypocrisy: Hawthorne reveals the weaknesses of
blind faith in "Young Goodman Brown." In his repressive Puritan society, Goodman Brown looks to
others for examples of purity and goodness—putting his faith in others and relying on them to
support his beliefs. However, focusing on external representations of moral behavior is deceptive.
Without personal convictions, Goodman Brown’s beliefs are easily corrupted. Moreover,
Goodman Brown is forced to confront the dark, unacknowledged sides of his Puritan ways; he
finally sees the blindness and hypocrisy of his society, but is too late to change.

The Nature of Good and Evil: Hawthorne explores the relationship between good and evil in
“Young Goodman Brown” through the titular Brown’s excursion into the forest with an old man
whom readers quickly realize is the devil. One of the main ways that the devil seeks to undermine
Goodman Brown’s faith is to show him how the devil’s—and by extension “evil’s”— influence
inhabits all levels of society and all things. Goodman Brown lacks an ability to cope with a world
that is not distinctly good or evil, and the devil’s revelations cause the once pious Puritan to
become cynical, miserable, and suspicious of everyone.

ANSWER TO QUESTION (6): “Young Goodman Brown” functions as an allegory of the fall of man,
from which Hawthorne draws to illustrate what he sees as the inherent fallibility and hypocrisy in
American religion. Hawthorne sets up a story of a man who is tempted by the devil and succumbs
because of his curiosity and the weakness of his faith.

ANSWER TO QUESTION (7): The Formalistic Approach can be found throughout "Young Goodman
Brown," a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Formalistic Approach is one of the
most frequently used approaches. It concentrates on the concepts of form, tension, image, and
symbol; as well as point of view, irony, and paradox. These styles appear throughout the story.
Form in the past has meant what is now known as external form, the way one identifies the work.
This type of form is usually associated with poetry. Organic form is important to critics. "Emphasis
on organisms is not just in literary forms but in a broader, philosophical context, where the world
itself is organic..." Point of view is another device in the Formalistic Approach. Point of view,
“preserves the internal form, the organic quality of the work." (Handbook pg.87) Tension, irony,
and paradox are "the resolution of opposites.” "The basic terms -tension, irony, and paradox- are
often nearly indistinguishable, so closely do they work together."(Handbook pg. 90) "A term
introduced by Allen Tate, meaning the integral unity those results from the successful resolution
of the conflicts of abstraction and concreteness..." (Handbook pg. 90)

Ambiguity is also present in "Young Goodman Brown." "Paradoxical as it may seem, we suggest
that ambiguity is a formal device in 'Young Goodman Brown'."(Handbook pg.97) One way to see
ambiguity in the work, as suggested by the Handbook of Critical Approaches, is to trace the
relationships of light and dark. The daylight and darkness of the town and the (dark) forest is
important.

"Young Goodman Brown" is a story that is easily understood. The broad use of symbolism jumps
out to the reader making the story fun and interesting, while displaying the meaning and ironic
twists of events. In "Young Goodman Brown," the "image" almost immediately takes on symbolic
qualities. For example, the pink ribbons in the hair of Faith, Brown's wife. This is a reference to
and has the same meaning as Hester Prynne's scarlet "A". Another good example of ambiguity and
symbolism is the fact that Faith's ribbons are pink, an in between color. Red is a symbol of evil or
being provocative and white is a symbol of purity and innocence. "Like the admixture of light and
dark in the tale... the ribbons are neither read nor white. They are somewhere between: they are
ambiguity objectified.

The end