Altered Reality At some point in every individual’s life, they come across a large realization that changes their outlook on life. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and James Joyce’s “Araby”, the main characters within these short stories both come to this type of realization, and the effects of this can be seen in how their behavior and their outlook on life alters. In the beginning of both writings, the characters are living seemingly normal, happy lives, but by the end, both characters have adopted a more gloomy existence. The way in which a sad realization affects the individuals in “Araby” and “Young Goodman Brown” are shown majorly through each story’s theme of disappointment , change in tone, and characterization of the
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Although the events and circumstances of each short story are different, the theme of disappointment is prevalent within both. In “Araby” the young man within the story lusts after a girl only to realize his love isn’t returned. The theme of disappointment is clearly developed through the way in which he acts upon this discovery. His character explains,”I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make interest in her wares seem more real.”(Joyce 261). His attitude shifts from happy and hopeful to instantly sad and very disappointed once he realizes that his efforts will have no impact on the way she feels . It is this change in behavior that helps develop the writing’s theme of disappointment because the drastic change seen within the character makes it obvious to the audience that his wishes to be with this girl were not …show more content…
Both main characters show signs of being affected by this new view of reality, but Goodman Brown shows the most radical change. His character is developed mostly by description and from what his characters says, and at the beginning of his journey he seems content for the most part, but after his life altering experience, his behavior is very different. Hawthorne describes this character as being, “A stern, a sad,a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream.”(255). The development of his character after this point is one of the strongest examples of how his newly discovered knowledge changed him into an almost entirely different person. “Understood in Brown’s fashion, it darkens and sours the world, withering hope and charity, and perverting whatever is truly good until it looks evil at its worst:Like blasphemy and hypocrisy,” analyses D.M. McKeithan. The point McKeithan is trying to make is that the effect that this event has caused on the character’s view on the world around him is devastating and irreversible, and it is due to this change in character that the audience is able to identify how a realization like this one can transform an individual’s behavior and their outlook on
Although the events and circumstances of each short story are different, the theme of disappointment is prevalent within both. In “Araby” the young man within the story lusts after a girl only to realize his love isn’t returned. The theme of disappointment is clearly developed through the way in which he acts upon this discovery. His character explains,”I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make interest in her wares seem more real.”(Joyce 261). His attitude shifts from happy and hopeful to instantly sad and very disappointed once he realizes that his efforts will have no impact on the way she feels . It is this change in behavior that helps develop the writing’s theme of disappointment because the drastic change seen within the character makes it obvious to the audience that his wishes to be with this girl were not …show more content…
Both main characters show signs of being affected by this new view of reality, but Goodman Brown shows the most radical change. His character is developed mostly by description and from what his characters says, and at the beginning of his journey he seems content for the most part, but after his life altering experience, his behavior is very different. Hawthorne describes this character as being, “A stern, a sad,a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream.”(255). The development of his character after this point is one of the strongest examples of how his newly discovered knowledge changed him into an almost entirely different person. “Understood in Brown’s fashion, it darkens and sours the world, withering hope and charity, and perverting whatever is truly good until it looks evil at its worst:Like blasphemy and hypocrisy,” analyses D.M. McKeithan. The point McKeithan is trying to make is that the effect that this event has caused on the character’s view on the world around him is devastating and irreversible, and it is due to this change in character that the audience is able to identify how a realization like this one can transform an individual’s behavior and their outlook on