Young Goodman Brown Vs American Psycho Analysis

In 1835, a young Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story called, “Young Goodman Brown” about a man’s spiritual journey in Puritan America. A hundred and fifty-six years later Bret Easton Ellis wrote, “American Psycho” once more focusing a man’s journey, although less about his spirit and more of his psychological problems during the 1980s. Although, on the surface, these two stories do not seem similar they do share a lot of similarities, almost to the point where American Psycho could be seen as a newer version of Young Goodman Brown, just with a different ending.
Goodman Brown is obsessed with his appearance in society and his wife, Faith. He does such good work for God that he earns the title of Goodman, and was able to have such a devout …show more content…
He seems very sure of himself, his love for his wife, and “confident that he is going to heaven” (Connolly). He heads purposely into the darkest, creepiest part of the woods and even seems ready to meet the devil because, he says, “’What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!’” then the devil appears before him. It is never said why he is meeting the devil or why he continues with his journey even after seeing him, but he is then forced to see and hear how everyone in the village he had looked up to was actually just working for the devil. Although Goodman Brown purposely met the devil that night, he was not working with him, so it could be assumed that maybe this trip he went on was a tradition in his family because the devil took on the appearance of his grandfather. The witch Goody Cloyse confirms this by saying, “’…and in the very image of my old gossip, Goodman Brown, the grandfather of the silly fellow that now is.’” Thus also saying that Goodman Brown’s grandfather was, in fact, a “friend” to the devil and a witch. But why wasn’t Goodman Brown also one if it is part of his family and village? Probably because he hadn’t been initiated yet, and that is almost solved when he comes across the clearing where all of the village, young and old, are worshipping the devil. He gets tied up and sees his wife also bound next to him. The worshippers begin to force Faith to join them, but before she decides Goodman Brown wakes up back on the trail and goes home. Comparing to Bateman’s journey, a man who already has the devil inside him and how he goes about life killing those around him. He too his very sure of himself at the very beginning, “… ‘I'm resourceful, I'm creative, I'm young, unscrupulous, highly motivated, highly skilled. In essence, what I'm saying is that society cannot afford to lose me. I'm an asset.’ (Gardner)” Bateman, like Goodman