"Young Goodman Brown" is the story of a young adult Puritan man who makes the decision to explore the world of the unrighteous. Curiosity and the excitement of the forbidden and the unknown lure Brown like a small child into the forest to attend a "baptism" - a meeting of other worshipers of evil who plan to induct a new member into their sect. Brown is torn between what he has been taught his entire life to be "right" and "good," and his instinctive craving to taste forbidden fruit. As such, Brown allows himself to be drawn deeper and deeper into the forest, and thus, farther away from the safety of his home, family

Calvinism, the religion of Goodman Brown's time, might have been partially to blame for the collapse of Brown's faith in people. However, had Brown been true to his teachings, he would not have placed as much spiritual trust in the goodness of people. The teachings of Calvinism stressed the natural failures of human beings and the depravity of mankind, whereas God alone never fails. Introspection was mandatory. True followers of this religion were taught to look inside their hearts and minds each day and cast out all that was sinful. In Calvinism, there were no gray areas or ambiguities - only black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. In life, all things are gray, and realistically, there is no "black and white." Because of this "gray area," Brown had trouble accepting things at face value after his "revelation."

Brown's downfall was not the entire fault of the twin pillars of his society -- civil order and religion. Society and religion were not too weak to support Goodman Brown after his awful revelation; he was too weak to support himself. Society and religion both remained as before the revelation; it was Goodman Brown's view of people that changed. In the beginning and throughout the story, Brown cannot distinguish between appearance and reality. He takes things and people at face value. If a man appears to be respectable and saintly, Brown assumes him to be so. Brown held in high esteem his minister, his church deacon (Gookin), his childhood Sunday school teacher (Goody Cloyse, who taught him h

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Approximate Word count = 1033
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)