Friday, November 20, 2009

Gothic Fishbowl: "Young Goodman Brown"


Keep up your strong work with our fishbowl discussions. I have two new tasks for you to tackle today:


1. Bring a quote from the story into at least one of your responses.


2. Try to get into a hotseat today, even if it's only for a moment.


Enjoy!

81 comments:

  1. First thought- I found an example of what I think would be considered as an uncanny. "...beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated on the foot of an old tree. He arose at Goodman Brown's approach and walked onward side by side with him." At first impression, this man must seem harmless to Goodman Brown, but a little bit later, the old man seems like he is the devil portaying himself as a harmless-looking elderly man.

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  2. "Be it so if you will; but, alas! It was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown." Why, if it was just a dream did Goodman Brown become so evil? Why was he hated so much after that one dream? why did he not even look at his wife? What about the dream made him so scared?

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  3. I thinnk that he went to the forrest to get in touch with the devil and to see what the meeting was going to be about.

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  4. The host was the traveler or devil and the forest was the house. The woods and the traveler were dark and dangerous.

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  5. I agree i think this man was just portraying himself as a harmless old man but really he was evil

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  6. Was the whole forest ordeal a dream or was it a real experience?

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  7. In the first page of the story what does the pink ribbon signify? The author kept bringing it up so it must have served a purpose but what?

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  8. Morgan-- I think that just the encounter with the devil is what terrified him the most. Real or just a dream, either way, it's scary. No one would ENJOY having an encounter with the devil.

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  9. I think that the forest is like a house in this story it represents the characters just like a house would in the previous stories that we have read.

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  10. The quote on the first page, in response to the man in the forest, "Faith kept me back a while." This has a double meaning that I found very interesting. Faith was his wife and she kept him from leaving, while his faith kept him as well. I think this trip symbolizes him leaving behind his faith.

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  11. That could be, he might as well be the devil, but what exactly was there to see?

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  12. Was the maple staff a symbol for evil?

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  13. I think his encounter with the devil was a dream and it just stuck in his head and scared him

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  14. Throughout the story they describe something they wear as a staff. I was wondering could this "staff" be like the yellow jacket type thing in The Village. Are both of these articles of clothing used to protect them?

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  15. I found it quite intersting why Nathaniel Hawthorne chose to have Goodman Brown's wife name being Faith. The idea of leaving faith behind. To me this seems to say that the forest is an evil place. A place without faith.

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  16. Why do you think Poe chose to have the wife's name Faith? Do you think he wanted to make you try to decide whether he was actually talking about his faith or the person? For example later in the story Brown says, "My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given." (pg 5)

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  17. "My love and my Faith," replied young Goodman Brown. It seemed like every time he talked to i\his wife he used his wifes name and it could of been faith as the object/subject or her actual name (both would fit.) Do you think this has any meaning?

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  18. To answer your question Rachel,
    I'm not sure it was entirely. i thought that on page five in the fourth paragraph when he was hearing all these things and thinking he was seeing all these evil things, that it was sort of in his friend. he is very afraid about what he is doing. He has never been there. so i think at that point it was all in his head. he started acting really crazy at this point as well.

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  19. In the beginning of the story while he is talking to Faith, why is it that the author mentions the pink ribbons multiple times when talking about Faith?
    For example: "'Then God bless youe!' said Faith, with the pink ribbons..."

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  20. Rachel
    I agree with you about the man being the devil. I think his staff, "which bore the likeness of a great black snake...", may be a symbol of how deceitful he is.

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  21. If this is all a dream, I agree with Sam when she said that the devil was real and Goodman Brown was real, but everything else was in his head. I think that the devil brought those people in because maybe he was trying to make a spiritual attack?

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  22. Through out the story he keeps yelling for Faith, is he yelling for his wife or for his own faith to bring him strength?

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  23. Jake-- I think the author includes the ribbons because if you remember towards the end he sees Faith's ribbon fall onto a branch. This is one of the last things he remembers seeing on his wife. The ribbons I guess you could say, identified Faith.

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  24. I think that Faith represents the light of the story and the first thing that happened is that she was gone and the "light and faith" of the story disappeared.

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  25. The forest reminds me of the black veil because no one really knows why he is wearing that or what is in the forest. They are both ways to get out of reality or hide yourself.

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  26. The forest reminds me of the black veil. I think they both symbolize sin in their community. Goodman Brown sees so many people in the forest confirming that everyone sins

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  27. Grant-I think the whole forest ordeal was a dream but it was in a way a warning for Young Goodman Brown. I think the dream was just meant to show him that even the purest people have sins and that if we all focussed on the sins we have made instead of moving on then, "Evil must be your only happiness." Meaning that you'd only focus on the bad things that everyone else has done in order for you to be happy.

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  28. I believe that the Forrest was real and every thing else but the creepy old man i think that he was a figure of his imagination and the dark forest gave him scary illusions

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  29. Yes, Aaron. I really think the devil was the old man. In the Old Testament, Satan (the devil) is a snake persuading Eve to eat the fruit from the tree God told her and Adam not to, hence the beginning of sin for all mankind.

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  30. Jake I think that in some ways he is yelling for his wife, but the two could be connected maybe the strength and faith he needs as a person comes to him through his wife.

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  31. "With heaven above and faith below, i will yet stand firm against the devil." I think this shows that he was calling for his own faith not for his wife. He believes that if he trusts God and heaven above then he will be able to stand strong against the devil.

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  32. Grant-
    I think the experience in the forest was a vision or a test of Goodman Brown's faith that the devil showed him. Plus at the end Brown cries out,"Faith!Faith!...look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one."

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  33. It seems that thus far in every Gothic story we have discussed there has been the idea of sins overwhelming a society. In the Minister's Black Veil, the veil symbolizes the sin overwhelming the minister and the town. In Young Goodman Brown and even in the Crucible the forest is seen to be an evil place wrapped in sin.

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  34. Beau,
    On page five, i started to think that the name faith had more meaning. "My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come devil; for to thee is this world given." It seems to me that he is giving up his faith is a religious sense instead of a literal where he is calling for his wife. he is inviting the devil which is going against his beliefs and his faith in the things or people he used to trust.

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  35. Grant- I think that the staff with the serpent symbolizes the evil that is going to be in the forest. Also I think it symbolizes the strength to go on with the journey they are on right now. "Sit here and rest yourself a while; and when you feel like moving again, there is my staff to help you along."(pg 4)

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  36. Jake i think he is calling for his own Faith. On the 5th page Goodman Brown says "'My Faith is gone!' cried he, after one stupefied moment. 'There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given." This shows that Goodman Brown is saying that ever since entering the forest he lost faith and having his wife named Faith is just another example of how faith is gone in Goodman Browns life.

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  37. I agree with Elizabeth. Faith was light in this story. She represented the faith that everyone had in the town and in themselves because once he and the others left she was no longer with them. But then at the end when they return she was there waiting for him. Faith had come back to him in the end.

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  38. Elizabeth-
    I agree, I think Faith was used to represent faith. And that Brown has to give up his "faith" and has to be tested to get "faith".

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  39. I agree with you Xavia. Yes, i think in this story the devil had persuaded him, and he did go against everything he believed in and had faith in. He didn't want that for his wife, Faith, I guess because he knows what it feels like and in this story also, he seems like he's made helpless by the devil.

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  40. I agree with you Xavia I think with out his wife he has no faith and it shows how he reacts to adversity.

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  41. Jake,
    It says on page 5 that a young man handed a pink ribbon to Goodman Brown, and upon seeing this, he yelled,"My Faith is gone! There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come devil; for thee is this world given." I think that, and this is drawing from Nowlan's comment, he is talking about both his wife and his inner faith. When he sees the ribbon, he knows that he has lost his wife. But when he gives himself to the devil, he is saying that he has lost all faith in God. I believe he thinks this because he cannot imagine a God who would take away such a pure individual.

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  42. I think Faith has a double meaning in the play. I think he is talking about his wife and his religious faith.

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  43. What the snake-like staff represents is evil and the devil's ability to portray himself as anything that MAY seem harmless.

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  44. I believe on page 5 he is crying out for his own faith as well as his wife faith. notice that he cries out he cries out after he finds Faith's ribbon. His personal faith could be gone because in a sense he has nothing to hold on to anymore, maybe he has no reason to want to go on with life, but at the same time, HIS very own wife, faith, is gone

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  45. Grant-
    I don't think that the staff itself represents anything but I think that the serpent represents the sin overall. The serpent in the bible is the one who got Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit which was the beginning of all sin.

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  46. Nobody knows what Satan looks like, exactly why he portrays himself as something innocent so nobody can "recognize" him. This can happen.

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  47. Great encouragement corbin i like that!!!

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  48. "faith! faith!" cried the husband, "look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one." at this point do you think that she was really in the woods or do you think that the ribbon is in his head or actually there and the devil has faith.

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  49. Yes, elizabeth, and the serpent in the Bible WAS Satan.

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  50. Rachel-
    I agree, the devil's staff seems like a harmless staff but, the "devil" touches his staff to Goody Cloyse's neck cause her to realize that he was the devil.

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  51. I agree with rachel i think the devil disguises himself in every situation he is in so that people wont know who he is and he can decieve them

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  52. I completely agree with Rachel. The staff can represent many things and I think that it does symbolize the devil and his ability to display his evil as something harmless.

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  53. Thanks for the clarification Elizabeth I thought the the staff represented safety but now I can see how it represents sin

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  54. The black veil was a way to escape reality but, in this story the forest may also be seen as a way to get away from society. If Goodman Brown was so desperate to be with his wife why did he decide to still journey into the woods? What was his purpose?

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  55. what do you think he means when he says, "... and sin is but a name?" on page five

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  56. Sin was supposed to happen. It wasn't an accident that a snake persuaded Adam and Eve, dooming us to sin forever.

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  57. yeah it means a lot corbin. I really need it i am going through a hard time right now and with out you I dont know what I would do. Thanks man ;) and you are doing a very good job too man

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  58. Chris can you come up with an individual thought please and not copy other people

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  59. The story says that Goodman Brown's encounter in the woods was "a dream of evil omen." I feel like the encounter did actually happen because of how he acted when he was in the church service the next day. He acted with contempt when the prayers were being said and the Psalms were being sung. I do not believe if it were a dream that he would be effected in this way. Goodman Brown was taken over by an evil spirit.

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  60. I agree with Sam that only the devil and Goodman Brown are the only people there because why would the two holiest men in the city. Why would they want to make a covenant with the devil?

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  61. Why is the devil carrying a staff instead of the regular pitchfork? Does the staff have a greater significance?

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  62. I'm really glad we're using this blog to help each other feel good about ourselves. Group hug.

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  63. I agree with Rachel. I think the staff represents Satan because no one does know what he looks like. He can transform into anything he wants to tempt you or like Trace said, deceive you. Do you think that Satan was the pink ribbon to make Goodman Brown think that his Faith was gone?

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  64. The staff may pepresent a snake. On page two in the first paragraph it says "the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable was his staff, which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent." It may not have been alive, but from the bible, here is what I personally believe. You don't have to agree with me. But God gave Moses a staff, a rod to lead the Israelites, when two Pharasses challenged Moses, they had two staffs and Moses has one. All three threw them on the ground and they turned into snakes and Moses' ate the other two.
    I don't know anything about Nathaniel Hawthorne, I don't know if he knew about the bible or if he was religious or an athiest or anything. But if he did know about this story, he may have meant something with using this staff in the story.

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  65. Just kidding man :) youre doing great!

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  66. I don't know Aaron. Maybe he wanted her to realize?
    And Xavia-- I think that sin is weaved into every human since since the beginning of sin, which is when Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of eden, the place that God gave them to live. Such a good place, but then ruined by sin, then spread throughout generations and generations of man.

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  67. Mallory- I think that he was curious to see what was going to happen when the meeting got started.

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  68. Jake, maybe they want something from the devil or that the devil can promise them something they want.

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  69. To repeat my question to the outer circle: What do you think Hawthorne is trying to teach us through this story?

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  70. i think i symbolizes sins but you don't always have to fall under the sin or in this case the devil

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  71. Trace- All you did was copy what Aaron said. At least I brought forth a good point in both of my comments. This blog is about Young Goodman Brown, not my ability to comment.

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  72. Xavia,
    i think that when he says that sin is but a name, he is talking about the label of sin that is put on evil deeds. I think that he is saying that people are free to chose what is sin and what isn't. He is basically saying that sin is just a label and nothing else

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  73. Wow chris. Ouch. i guess i am done posting for the day you really hurt me man.

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  74. I think that Hawthorne is trying to teach us that everybody is human and that everyone makes mistakes no matter how good of person you are. And that everyone should be forgiven.

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  75. Sooooooo agreed Morgan, and I'm not just saying that. God gave Moses this CERTAIN staff that overcame the other staffs of the Pharisees, the guys who absolutely HATED Jesus when he was alive.

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  76. Beau great work i am always here!

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  77. I believe Hawthorne is trying to tell us that everybody sins and the devil tempts you every day. It can be through symbols or objects. Some people handle this in a different way. You can never give up on faith alwayd have faith!!!!!!

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  78. I think Hawthorne is trying to teach us that evil shouldn't be your only happiness and that you should keep your faith even though you have sinned. Don't leave your faith behind and suffer from the sins you have made.

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  79. Hawthorne is trying to say that everyone sins, not everyone can be perfect. This is very similar to the Black Veil.

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