Rip van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown Essay - 862 Words

Adam Stansell Intro to Fiction Dr. Archer Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown: A story of runaway husbands and there similarities and differences. These two stories by Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne respectively, illustrate different examples of men wandering away from home, for somewhat different reasons, with somewhat the same results with the exception of the overall outcome upon the men. Careful analysis of the two stories can reveal both the similarities and the differences between the two, and how those things are important to the story as a whole. Young Goodman Brown takes a look at the life of man after venturing into the woods in order to complete some unknown errand in the middle of the night. He encounters an†¦show more content†¦One day, he leaves home with his dog to go squirrel hunting in order to escape the nagging of his wife. He ventures up into the mountains and encounters some men carrying moonshine up the mountain. He follows them and encounters more men playing a game of nine-pins and drinking. Having no regard for what may happen, he begins to drink with them. He soon falls asleep, to awake almost 20 years later, after the occurrence of the American Revolution. He returns to his village to discover that no one recognizes him, except for his now grown daughter who takes him in. He resumes his previous life of stories and good deeds, but never any hard work. This story, seemingly much less symbolic than Young Goodman Brown, still has a very valid point to make. This story points to the idea that hard work leads to prosperity, and avoiding said work could lead to a life that passes you by in an instant, resulting in a person unrecognizable to society. These two stories have many surface level similarities, but very glaring differences in the implicated meaning of these stories. Both seem to show a man, running away from home for a short time to complete some sort of errand. Both also result in the changing of said man, although much less Rip Van Winkle, into something a little less desirable. Young Goodman Brown loses all faith in his life and humanity, therefore ma king the rest of his life miserable, andShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book Rip Van Winkle And Young Goodman Brown 1197 Words   |  5 Pages In Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the wilderness is used as a place for the main characters of both stories to have profound supernatural, spiritual experiences. Washington Irving uses the wilderness and nature to add a great sense of romanticism to his writing by creating a peaceful, mystical world. In Rip Van Winkle, Iriving implies that nature’s possessive beauty offers a great escape from the conventions of everyday life and can allow oneRead MoreOf Witchcraft In Young Goodman Brown And Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle1126 Words   |  5 PagesIn Nathaniel Hawthorn’s Young Goodman Brown and Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle share a common ground of witchcraft and a man vs man inner conflict of the unknown. We witness our two protagonist Goodman Brown and Rip endure life or death situations and what they conquer throughout their self-entitlement. Firstly, we see the journey of young, newly wedded Goodman Brown, and his wife Faith. A Puritan believed couple, who’s in the mindset of being set for life all because of Faith being an EliteRead More Comparing Fall of the House of Usher, Young Goodman Brown, and Rip Van Winkle1420 Words   |  6 Pagesof Usher, Young Goodman Brown, and Rip Van Winkle In the early eighteen hundreds, literature in the Americas started a revolution of style in upcoming authors. Authors started to look towards nature for symbolism and society as a source of sin. The underlined meaning in most of these stories was meant to leave the reader with a new perspective of their personal lives and society as a whole. Three stories that use this particular technique are Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown, Edgar AllenRead MoreEssay on Rip Van Winkle1682 Words   |  7 PagesThe characters in Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown written respectively by Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne leave their individual communities and return with radically different perspectives (of their current lives) that change their attitudes and way of life in the remaining of their lives. Both stories are set in early American villages, Young Goodman Brown takes place in the 1700’s New England puritan settlement while Rip Van Winkle takes place over 100 years later in an EnglishRead MoreWashington Irvings The Legend Of The Sleepy Hollow And Rip Van Winkle And Young Goodman Walker And Edgar Allen Poe1557 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown are all Romantic literary writings. They all feature characters who have a psychotic element to them and claim supernatural events have occurred; it’s Ichabod in The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle and his daughter in Rip Van Winkle, the narrator and Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher, and Goodman Brown in Young Goodman Brown. Because of this similarityRead MoreThe American Character Essay1814 Words   |  8 Pagesof 1819 â€Å"Rip Van Winkle.† Unbeknownst to Rip Van Winkle, the colonies are now free of British rule as Irving writes, â€Å"Here a general shout burst from the bystanders—‘A Tory! a Tory! a spy! A refugee! hust le him! Away with him’† (Matthews, 2007, para. 36). Rip enters the village armed, ignorant of the fact that he presents the look of a loyalist. The question of being a refugee is preferable to accusations of being a Tory, as a colonist refugee would not claim British loyalty which Rip did openlyRead MoreAmerica s Deep Puritan And Calvinist Roots841 Words   |  4 Pagesand hypocrisy that was present at the time. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown† we have an allegory that appears to be quite obvious. The pious young Brown literally and figuratively leaves his â€Å"Faith† and embarks on a walk with the devil. During his stroll, he comes upon all the people in his life he thought most Christian- including the local reverend, his catechism teacher, and ultimately his own young wife. Brown is traumatized to learn that his faith had been misplaced in people whoRead More Timeline of American Literature and Events Essay3022 Words   |  13 Pagespiece of 1819 â€Å"Rip Van Winkle.† Unbeknownst to Rip Van Winkle, the colonies are now free of British rule as Irving writes, â€Å"Here a general shout burst from the bystanders—‘A Tory! a Tory! a spy! A refugee! hustle him! Away with him’† (Matthews, 2007, para. 36). Rip enters the village armed, ignorant of the fact that he presents the look of a loyalist. The question of being a refugee prevails over accusations of being a Tory, as a colonist refugee would not claim British loyalty which Rip did openlyRead MoreEarly American Literature Essay1511 Words   |  7 Pagestalent for creating a magical, fairytale quality in his tales, notably, Rip Van Winkle and thus helped shape the folklore of early America. Rip Van Winkle demonstrating the struggle that man had in order to be truly free, rather nationally or individually. His elegant writing style, full of gentle humor and vivid descriptions, became the building block for other writers to come. Around the same time as Irvings Rip Van Winkle, William Cullen Bryants Thanatopsis displayed a pantheistic viewRead MoreNathaniel Hawthorne s Young Goodman Brown894 Words   |  4 Pagesdemonstrated in at least two of the stories we read. In â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†, I found several romanticism characteristics to be in this story. One being, the emphasis on feelings and emotions. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes, â€Å"The cry of grief, rage, and terror was yet piercing through the night, when the unhappy husband held his breath for a response.† The cry of anguish and pain are very applicable to the protagonist idea in this story. Brown also expresses feeling when he doesn t want to leave his