Irony In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Open on a preschool classroom. The hour for napping has arrived, and all is at peace. That is, until a young boy, full of ambition and potential, sees an opportunity for mischief. Behold, on the opposite side of the room is a cookie jar, full of delicious, baked temptation. The small lad, rising from his slumber, makes the journey towards sweet indulgence, only to find that several of his classmates have also congregated around the jar in their own attempts at dessert thievery. Even one of his teachers has joined in on the scandal! Still ready and willing to follow his peers in opening the jar of sin, the young boy reaches out his hand towards the lid, only to suddenly awaken, as nap time has come to a close. From that moment on, the boy looks at his classmates and teacher with judgemental eyes, never forgetting the corruption that surrounds him as he learns his ABC’s, but forgets his own unvirtuous behavior.
It’s a truly laughable situation, but not totally unfitting for a toddler. However, for a grown man, the practice is much less forgivable. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” tells the story of sins greater than that of cookie jars, and how they attract even the most pure of humans. The story represents the hypocritical nature of Puritan society, and Michael Tritt’s analysis accurately suggests that psychological projection is how the main protagonist manages to defend himself from facing his own moral corruption. In the …show more content…
Goodman Brown’s refusal to accept his crimes led him to an unhappy, distrustful life. His hypocritical ways made him irreparably cynical, and he died an unfulfilled man. Projection, though an unaware practice to its victims, keeps a person prisoner to their own ignorance, and Tritt proves the practice is as old as the Puritans