Loss Of Innocence In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

One of the strongest themes within Young Goodman Brown is the loss of innocence is unpreventable as all people are inherently corrupt. Goodman Brown from the start was destined to inevitably lose his innocence. Whether his experience was a dream or reality he made the choice to follow the devil into the wilderness and by that time the loss of his innocence was inevitable, The devil was not the true danger within the passage. The true danger was in fact Goodman Brown’s choice to follow the devil. When Goodman Brown first encounters the devil he speaks “Well said Goodman Brown! I have been as well acquainted with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans; and that’s no trifle to say.” Goodman Brown at first innocently believes that he comes from a long line of good natured christians. The devil reveals to him things are not what they seem and that in fact they are followers of the devil. Goodman Brown loses the innocence he once possessed. The devil then goes on and elaborates further. “Wickedness or not, I have a very general acquaintance here in New England. The deacons of many a church have drank the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; …show more content…
“A marvel, truly, that Goody Cloyse should be so far in the wilderness at nightfall.” Goodman Brown is shocked that someone as ‘holy’ and ‘put together’ as Goody Cloyse is so far into the ‘wilderness’. He is continuing to come to these realizations while all the while losing his innocence. As Goodman Brown continues his journey through the wilderness he begins to have some doubts about what he actually believes in. “He looked up into the sky, doubting whether there was really a heaven above him.” Heaven is a big part of Christianity and the fact that he has doubts show that he is not the innocent minded character he was in the beginning he can decipher between the truth and the