Nathaniel Hawthorne: Spirits of Ancestors and Faith in the Wilderness

Nathaniel Hawthorne believed that each of his children were products of guilt and grief. His eldest daughter died mysteriously at a very young age. His son, Julian, was arrested and put in prison for being a conman. The youngest daughter, Rose, was constantly at war with her siblings and her husband. She also lost a child. Rose soon "gave up the world as if [I were] dead." I can't imagine the angst that this would bring to a father. Thinking of my own father I know that it would break his heart to see so much unhappiness and suffering in his family.

Nathaniel's grandfather, William Hawthorne, and his father, John were strong men, known to be harsh and brutal legislatures. Nathaniel believed that his family was cursed due to the fact that his father judged over the Salem Witch Trials. John judged, found guilty, and watched the executions of the accused. Nathaniel came to believe that one of the accused cursed his family. Nathaniel must have been in a constant state of confusion, angst, and depression due to what his father and his grandfather did before him. This brings us to the idea of the family history and what is known, and what is not known, and why it even matters at all.

Before this class I didn't realize how many family secrets I had in my own family! I'll tell what I know of my family history and the "secrets" that were kept hushed and locked away. My great-great-grandmother came from Hungary. Gyuras, if you didn't know, is in fact, a Hungarian name. She was not married and at a young age was raped! She came to America just before World War I. However, she did not bring her son, Alexander, with her. She left him in Hungary with family. I'm certain that she felt a deep sense of guilt for leaving her child behind. However, it must also have been difficult to live with such a reminder of a tragic event that occurred. Not to mention the way she had been seen in society at that time!!! Unmarried, pregnant, and seemingly in a hopeless position! She, a devout Catholic, prayed every day for comfort in her pain and to keep her child safe in Hungary. She raised a family of twelve children and never did return to Hungary. She never saw Alexander again.

There are other secrets in my family which are not talked about AT ALL. I will not go into details because of how sensitive the material is. I will say that there are secrets about a mysterious drowning, a rape that went without justice, molestation, drug problems, marriage problems, and a pregnancy out of wedlock. There are others but I won't mention them here. These secrets have led to severe guilt and depression which have been passed down from generation to generation. These are the things that no one talks about. My own mother thinks I don't know any of these secrets but I have learned somehow. We don't talk about it. I suppose I understand where Nathaniel Hawthorne's severe guilt and depression came from, even though he himself had nothing to do with the past events.

In the short story, Young Goodman Brown, reflections of Nathaniel's depression, guilt, and angst can be read between the lines. The story begins with a young man; a young good-man, leaving his wife, Faith for some kind of trip. She begs for him to stay with her but fails at changing his mind. Right away we can see that the wife, Faith, is a symbol of faith in general. Young Goodman Brown abandons both his wife and his "faith" as he goes into the forest. While in the forest he meets a man who carries a staff that looks like a great black snake. It can be concluded that these two men have some kind of deal and Young Goodman Brown tries to say he will do this evil deed but must immediately return to his "goodness" afterwards. However, he seems worried and says: "My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians since the days of the martyrs; and shall I be the first of the name of Brown that ever took this path and kept...(67)." The man that looks like him interrupts and says: "I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans...(67)." Young Goodman Brown tries to argue that his family are a "people of prayer" and do not live by wickedness. The other man tells him it doesn't matter what he says or thinks; he knows all these people in the church and government who should be good, honest, Christians but have "drunk the communion wine [with me]." Therefore this man, or the Devil, is trying to get Young Goodman Brown to see that all these "good" people are just illusions and they have all sinned to some extent. I also believe that this shows Nathaniel's guilt about what his father and grandfather did before him.

As the story continues he sees people that he knows and believes to be good. They have all come to meet for ceremony of the new converts. Young Goodman Brown hears a woman screaming and knows it to be his wife, Faith. He cries out: "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 (71)." Here, Young Goodman Brown has not only lost his wife but we are also led to believe that he has lost his faith in God and in humanity. I can't imagine what it would be like to be at some kind of evil ceremony surrounded by people that you thought you knew and could trust. "Among them, quivering to and fro between gloom and splendor, appeared faces that would be seen next day at the council board of the province, and others which, Sabbath after Sabbath, looked devoutly heavenward, and benignantly over the crowded pews, from the holiest pulpits in the land...But irreverently consorting with these grave, reputable, and pious people, these elders of the church, these chaste dames and dewy virgins, there were men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame, wretches given over to all mean and filthy vice, and suspected even of horrid crimes. It was strange to see that the good shrank not from the wicked, nor were the sinners abashed by the saints (72)." It appears that everyone from the village is there!!!

As Young Goodman Brown is brought forward as a convert so is a veiled female that turns out to be his wife, Faith. They are told at the ceremony: "Depending upon one another's hearts, ye had still hoped that virtue were not all a dream. Now are ye undeceived. Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome again, my children, to the communion of your race (74)." Just as they are about to be baptised with what appears to be blood, Young Goodman Brown tells Faith to resist the wicked one. The next thing we know Young Goodman Brown is alone again in the forest. The next morning he comes into the Salem village and all he can see are the people that he believed to be good as evil: the minister, Deacon Gookin, and Goody Cloyse. The story ends sadly with him never regaining his faith and living a dark and depressing life with no happiness, ending with his death. I wonder if Young Goodman Brown's guilt was passed on to his children like it was in the case of Nathaniel Hawthorne's history and in my own family history.

One interesting aspect of this short story would be the fact that it takes place in the wilderness. At this time the wilderness was the Devil's playground. I have noticed in all the material written at this time in our history that there seems to be something about the land that haunts. The Puritans lived in a constant and chronic state of uncertainty. I think that it was very clever of Nathaniel to take Young Goodman Brown and put him into this forest of uncertainty. At the end of the story Young Goodman Brown takes this forest of uncertainty back with him into the village. Maybe he believed that his village was still set upon the Devil's playground and he could never truly escape from this idea.

The most interesting aspect of this story is this concept of faith. Through his own free will Young Goodman Brown chooses to leave Faith at home. He was faced with this choice: to stay true to faith or to abandon it. He chose to abandon it as he chose to abandon his wife! Later in the story, however, we find that Faith is the woman beneath the veil. What is Faith doing in the forest?! In the middle of the Devil's Playground?! I have pondered over this for some time. I believe that she, as a symbol of Young Goodman Brown's faith, is constantly with him. She does not leave his side just because he chooses to abandon her. HE CANNOT ABANDON HIS FAITH!!! He may believe that he has but it hides in his shadow and in the smallest corner of his heart.

What it all boils down to is Young Goodman Brown's inability to accept that he wasn't pure. He had been tempted. His family before him had been tempted and there choices run in the blood of his veins. I believe that this is exactly how Nathaniel Hawthorne felt about his own family. Young Goodman Brown also saw a people who had forgot their place in front of God. This is probably what contributed to his choice to abandon his faith. Perhaps he saw all these good Christians who had lost their place in front of God; maybe making him doubt his faith and in the end completely obliterating it in his mind. Despite this, I don't think it ever really left his side.