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Re: Young Goodman Brown
If it can wait until the first week in January, I'm definitely for it. I adore Hawthorne and am thrilled to see someone else is interested! Thanks for suggesting it.
_________________ Gods and spirits are parasitic--Pascal Boyer
Religion is the only force in the world that lets a person have his prejudice or hatred and feel good about it --S C Hitchcock
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.--André Gide
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
We've mentioned short stories before and read a book of Camus' a while back. I think stories are a good idea because of less time needing to be committed, and availability of classic stories will be good. Many will even be online. So, nice idea, Geo, and I'd like to reread this one. I agree with Oblivion though, about holding off until 2010.
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
Me too, me too!
_________________ Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads ~ Henry David Thoreau
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
If you pick a book of short stories I'll advertise it on the home page so visitors can see what you're reading and discussing. Try to get me a title soon even if you're not starting the discussion to Jan. or Feb.
And please PM or email me so I definitely get the message. Thanks.
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
OK, I have read this story for this first time, read it pretty quickly, to get the feel of it, I'm looking forward to reading it again. You picked a good one Geo, love the character, "Faith". Then again, "Faith" is a lot more than just a human character.
_________________ I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth. --William Faulkner
I need to do a quick review of the story and then I'll be ready to discuss. So, go ahead, somebody get it started!
_________________ Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads ~ Henry David Thoreau
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” -Thich Nhat Hahn
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
This story touched a chord of terror within me......that's why I belatedly also responded to the "Which movie scared you as a kid" thread: not knowing if the persons nearest and dearest to you can be trusted, that they may be part of something horrific--and not being able to prove it either way, pulls at the very origin and center of fear, something that is called "Urangst" in German. Primeval fear. What if a child cannot trust its mother? Of course, this takes on other dimensions when one takes into account that Brown's wife is named "Faith"--a blatant personification. Apply the "Urangst", the fear, the mistrust to something that should (at least theoretically) give you comfort and joy. Hawthorne was definitely poking about in a hornet's nest.
_________________ Gods and spirits are parasitic--Pascal Boyer
Religion is the only force in the world that lets a person have his prejudice or hatred and feel good about it --S C Hitchcock
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.--André Gide
Joined: May 2002 Posts: 11883 Images: 0 Location: Florida Highscores:145 Thanks: 735 Thanked: 339 times in 271 posts
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
I've added a link to this short story discussion on our home page to give it some visibility. And I also mentioned this short story discussion on the Facebook page, but our Facebook members seem to not be very interested in posting on the forums. Hopefully we get a few to come on over and join.
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
This story has a garden of eden feel to it. Faith asks her young husband not to go, but he chooses to gain knowledge and he continues on the path. Then, once he gains knowledge he is punished for it, albeit, he punishes himself. The devil and the serpent certainly adds to this feeling.
oblivion wrote:
This story touched a chord of terror within me......
I can hear the cord of terror too, but I felt a sense of sadness as well. I suppose we all need to lose part of our innocence at some point in our lives, but the life of Young Goodman Brown is changed completely and forever. I say we lose part of our innocence, because to lose all of it, would make life very sad. To believe that at the core of everyone lies only evil must be unbearable. Because, he would consider himself truly evil too.
The symbolism in this story is fantastic. Something that struck me, among other things, was the stick the devil gives Brown after Brown refuses the serpent stick. The stick is almost like an invitation, "please take this and join us". Brown does accept the invitation of the smaller stick. Maybe he wanted just a small dose of evil. He just couldn't resist the temptation.
_________________ I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth. --William Faulkner
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Re: Young Goodman Brown
Suzanne wrote:
This story has a garden of eden feel to it. Faith asks her young husband not to go, but he chooses to gain knowledge and he continues on the path. Then, once he gains knowledge he is punished for it, albeit, he punishes himself. The devil and the serpent certainly adds to this feeling.
I like how the story is set up with Goodman Brown going off on a mission at night. There's a great mood like in a ghost story, an underlying sense of terror and danger always just on the periphery. In that day, there would have been a great fear of the woods and the savages living there.
When we meet the devil, I really like the description of his walking stick: "which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might also be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception, assisted by the uncertain light."
The snake's movements become more obvious in other scenes, not just a trick of the light.
So yes, it seems the temptation towards evil is strong in this community. It actually almost feels like a parody in that respect. I don't quite know what Hawthorne is saying about the Quaker mindset, but he seems to be commenting on the idea that humans gravitate towards evil and that this is the true nature of man. It certainly seems to be true of this community or at least that is "Goodman's" fear.
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