Comparison Of Young Goodman Brown and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been Essay

In Nathaniel Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown and Joyce Oates Where are You Going, Where Have You Been, most will recognize the similarity and differences that occur in the stories. Young Goodman Brown is more of a religious story, while Where are You Going, Where Have You Been? could be considered more secular. The settings differ in various ways, such as forests versus the mall. However, the main characters correlate with their authors: Hawthorne, a man and Oates, a woman; both understanding and pursuing their views from the same gender, a less biased perspective. Similarly, both stories bring about an area of uncertainty, in which both main characters of the stories, Goodman Brown from Young Goodman Brown and Connie, from Where are You Going, Were Have You Been? are put in vulnerable positions.

In Young Goodman Brown, Brown leaves his wife to complete a quick errand in the forest. There, he meets a man holding a suspicious stick with a snake illustration, looking, however; like an ordinary man. Brown classified this ordinary looking man as the devil shortly after the man asked him if hed like to walk with the stick. Regardless, Brown did not return back to his home, to return to his wife, Faith, he continued to follow the old man. His prying gets in the way of his good judgment, as Brown knows that this man is up to no good. One knows the saying, curiosity killed the cat. Brown at this point not only felt insecure, but he felt as though he was being unfaithful to his wife, Faith. Brown becomes completely discouraged when he sees that his former Sunday school teacher, Goody Cloyse, is pursued as a witch, whom is a devil follower.

Soon enough, Brown met more people as he made his way deeper into the forest, such as the minister, D. Gookin. Discovering this, Brown was put in a tough position, seeing the people he thought were most pious and practicing joining the devil and doubt began to evolve once again. Specifically, when Brown thought that he had heard the voice of his wife, Faith. He tried so desperately then to snap back to reality and resist. He cried out to his wife, and told her to resist, reminding her of Heaven. Brown did not follow the crowd to the ceremony, instead he remained faithful. The reason why this is so significant is because the author chose to place a Puritan-like era within a Romantic Period.

A lot of the series of events happening brought about confusion in Browns head. People, who were pious fraternizing with the so-called enemy, were the real trouble. Hawthorne described the flaw behind labels. One can never truly be classified as a sinner or a pious person; there will always be a balance of both. It is likely that this also uncovered the importance of true intention. One can be bad, but have good intentions, as well as one appearing good, but have bad intentions. This is portrayed in Brown, once again, because Brown lived his whole life missing the importance of life, categorizing him and his family under one category, when in reality he lived life miserably trying to be something no one could ever be: perfect.

In Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?, Connie, a 15 year old girl, is introduced as a teenager who does not get along with her mother under any circumstances. She was a girl who always seemed unhappy at home, because her mother always compared her to her older sister, June. Connie, on the other hand; liked June, because June got to go out, so Connie was allowed to go out with her friends as well. Connie spent a lot of her time at the mall, she would be dropped off by her friends parents and snuck off to places with boys. Her mother always nagged her about the guys she was with, and always tried to fish for details on her various outings. Connie thought her mother was so nosey, and wished shed just die.

Once Connie was left home alone on the day her family attended a barbeque, she soon met her doom. An odd car pulled up to Connies driveway, when she opened the door, there was the man she thought she saw when she was with a man named Eddie in an alleyway on one of her mall meets. She was frightened and confused to see this stranger, to say the least. The man, Arnold Friend, is said to be his name, threatened Connie in various ways. He had knew enough background information on her to get her worked up, as well as explaining happenings at the barbeque with her family. Arnold also harassed Connie in a sexual kind of manner, he told her that he loved her and that he wouldnt leave until she got in the car with him for a ride. He says, And Ill come inside you where its all secret and youll give in to me, and youll love me. This showed the frustration going through Arnolds mind. He began using a nice method, telling Connie he meant no harm, just that he wanted to go for a ride, but as she resisted, he got more anxious, losing patience, he threatened her, and got his way, but in fear.

At the end of both of these stories, it is evident that the endings are both unfortunate, and unhappy. Both main characters fell into evil commencements. Connie and Goodman Brown experienced mysterious events stirring up. Connie was losing her innocence, and Goodman Brown, his faith and hope. Though, the languages were different in each story, in the case where Young goodman Brown was for the middle-class society, including a various use of metaphors and symbols. Whereas, in Where are You Going, Where Have You Been?, the language is much more Southern, and informal, come runnin right into my arms.