Young Goodman Brown Literary Response

Steve Epting
AP English
Young Goodman Brown Literary Response
In this passage, the author tells a story of a man named Goodman Brown. He was sent on a journey that would take him a day to fulfill. When Goodman got started, he was a little uneasy about the surroundings. He was uneasy about the sounds and he kept having ideas about what could be behind the tall, wide trees. In the story, I think the author is trying to say that you have to go through some scary and strange things to get through your journey.
“ It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead; so that with lonely footsteps he may be passing through an unseen multitude.” This was how Goodman Brown was feeling during his journey. He had a very cryptic feeling during his “errand”, as Brown called it.
Even though Goodman had a companion on his journey, he still felt scared and he missed his wife Faith. His fifty year old traveling partner was unnamed throughout this passage. The two travelers hiked this long, distant, and aching journey with a staff to support their walking. It is later established that the traveling companion was a friend of Goodman Brown’s family.
In the passage, the traveling companion is not named and it is not stated where the journey is or why they are going on the journey. The author is speaking through the text and is saying, you can make it through the long journey ahead. Even though you are hurting, even though it seems like it will never end, and even though you are very tired and you want to quit, you can make it through. This is the main message throughout the story because Goodman Brown was going to give up. He was scared of what was around him in the woods, he was tired, and he also missed his wife very dearly. The main reason of the story was to inspire someone to never give up.