Goodman Brown Ambiguity

A piece of evidence that shows courage is the quote “He ain’t done it! He ain’t burnt…” that shows courage because Sarty thinks they are in court because his father burns down barns so he lies for his father. I believe that shows that he is brave because he is willing to lie in front of everybody including the judge just to protect his father. He did what he thought was right at that moment.

Clearly, as demonstrated by Arizona, one of the soldiers killed, an important element of courage is not to back away from challenges. Arizona did not hide when his troop was being attacked, but instead, he followed his captain in pursuit of the enemy, but unfortunately, he was shot. This concept of not backing down is further supported on pages 134 and 135, when O’Brien talks about one of his experiences with a bully as a young boy in middle school. O’Brien was pushed out of the line by a bully while he was waiting for the school bus, and though he was puny compared to the bully, he stood up for himself. The bully announced there was going to be a fight between him and O’Brien on Monday.

The value of courage in the face of adversity is shown in Ender’s Game and To Kill a Mockingbird. The definition of courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus shows courage when he is against the mob who is trying to hang Tom Robinson. “A flash of pain fear was going out of his eyes… He put the newspaper down very carefully adjusting its creases with lingering fingers. They were trembling a little.” (Harper Lee pg 152) In this quote Atticus realized that the mob was very dangerous, but he had to protect Tom Robinson. This is where Scout realized how much courage her father had. She saw that he did not back down and looked up to him for that. The author wants to tell the reader to have courage and to stand up for

Thesis: Goodman Brown’s state of mind between good and evil could have been caused by a combination of Puritanism obsession with the devil, its resemblance, and other prejudices such as ergot poisoning.

Courage can be something that is hard to achieve. Not only do you have to be brave, but also willing to take the risk even when you are scared. Jasper Jones has many characters who show courage, but also characters who could have been courageous and changed the whole plot. Courage can save someone’s life, and the lack of it could cause totally different endings in life as if someone did something that they may not have done without having courage, when someone may have lack of courage causing them not to do something, or when someone may decide to use courage to save a life.

Courage is shown by doing something selfless. Andrew received a draft form the union army, and instead of going to fight the war like a man he chickened out.

Explaining what he once heard to be from Plato, O’Brien uttered that proper courage came from wisdom and nothing else. For one to be a true sublime human being, they must demonstrate wisdom, justice, temperance, and lastly courage. As for a man without wisdom cannot be courageous, something a man without courage cannot contain any of the other three virtues (wisdom, justice, or even temperance). To Plato, wisdom is simply not just knowing what is right and what must be done, but following through with it. Courage, portrayed so perfectly by Tim O’Brien, is “the endurance of the soul in spite of fear” (140). The act of bravery is a battle within itself. Bravery is not about acting upon one’s desires, but instead setting them aside and putting the needs of the people around them first. It is about humbling yourself to your best ability, no matter how much fear one may obtain. There are people who simply just do not understand what is right due to their lack of intelligence, states O’Brien. Then there are so many men who might know what is right, however, they have too much fear to build up the courage to fight for it. As fear so often overtakes one’s whole self without even true recognition, courage is acting against that (136). All throughout the war, soldiers are constantly faced with fear as fear tends to come hand in hand with death.

Goodman Brown in the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne goes on a journey into the woods to meet a stranger which ultimately changes his life. His blind faith in his religion makes him believe that all people are good. Goodman Brown is a trusting, naive man in the beginning if the story but witnesses a witch ceremony that changes his personality drastically. Seeing his family and his neighbors taking part in the sinful act changes his outlook on life and his outlook on their personalities as well. Brown’s blind faith in people and his naivety make the shock of what he sees in the woods turn him into an untrusting, paranoid man.

It is evident that O’Brien’s definition of having the courage and being brave was to stand up for what you believe is right, not to follow along with everyone else because you are afraid of what others might think about you. That fear is what leads a person to make idiotic decisions to prove they are brave when in reality they are viewed as cowards. O’Brien teaches us a perfect

In most cases, people see that being courageous means feeling fear yet choosing to act as displayed in the poem Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the article Emmett Till by Jessica McBirney, and the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Nevertheless, other individuals may debate that being courageous is limited to standing up for what is right, even if they have to stand alone, as shown in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. For instance, the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight showed courageous very thoroughly when Sir Gawain was afraid of playing a gory game but yet chose to act. Sir Gawain stated, "I beseech before all here. That this melee may be mine...Would you grant me the grace,"

The story of Young Goodman Brown talks about a symbol of a pink ribbon that his wife had weaned on her hat. This pink ribbon is important because it relates to Faith, Goodman Brown wife. It seems that Goodman is sick with cancer and his wife was wearing the pink ribbon to represent cancer awareness.

In “Courage”, a poem by Edgar A. Guest, diction helps the reader make inferences about courage by creating an accusatory, optimistic, and pragmatic tone. First, Guest builds an accusatory tone, by taking advantage of his diction, to characterize courage. The poet utilizes an accusatory tone when he writes, “If he hasn’t it now, he will have it not / When the strain is great and the pace is hot” (13-14). This quote implies that if someone cannot manage to work at being courageous when there is no pressure then correspondingly, their weak courage will fail them once they are put under immense stress. Next, the author has an optimistic tone when his word choice assists him in describing courage to the reader.

This article gives the reader a better understanding on why Brown had this dream to begin with and the reason it made an impact on his life. Physiologically speaking, we sleep to restore brain tissue, rebuild memories, release of growth hormone, and increase in cognitive ability. The key words are to rebuild memories because our brain can generate an entire world of one conscious experience. Brown might have wondered for some time how his life would be if he did not follow the common path of his faith. Lastly remembering dreams well, little, or not at all depending on the brain state when one is awakened.

The concept of courage can be seen in Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby when Gatsby is trying to get Daisy back. For instance, in chapter five when Gatsby is about to meet Daisy for the first time since he left her. “Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pocket, was standing in a puddle in water glaring tragically into my eyes” (Fitzgerald, 45). This quote shows the fear that Gatsby has when he is about to meet Daisy for the first time since Gatsby left for the army during World War One, it also shows the courage Gatsby had to meet Daisy again. This supports the definition that courage requires fear because it shows that courage is hidden under the perception of dread and fear. Another example, is in chapter four when Gatsby is telling Nick about his past. “‘So I thought you ought to know something about me. I didn't want you to think I was just some nobody’” (Fitzgerald, 35). This reveals Gatsby’s subconscious fear of what Nick thinks of him and therefore he had courage to tell him the truth about his past. This further supports the definition of courage by revealing that in order to have courage there must be fear even if the person is not aware of it.

Young Goodman Brown was an innocent, corruptly, and doubtful man. At first, he only thought there was goodness inside of his father and grandfather, until the old man tells Goodman Brown that he knew both of them. All the people that he thought were pure, happened to be connected with the devil at one point. Once he found out about everybody that the old man knew, Goodman Brown questioned his beliefs about everything and he was never the same. When Goodman Brown went to the forest, it completely changed his faith and well- being.