Hawthorne
1. “Young Goodman Brown” operates as a parable of sin and faith set in Puritan America. What conclusions does the parable make? How is Brown changed by his encounter in the forest, and what does that reveal about him and those with whom he will spend his life?
2. What is meant by the narrator’s suggestion that it makes little difference whether Brown’s experience at the forest altar was a dream or reality?
3. Discuss the first paragraph of “The Minister’s Black Veil” and what it reveals about the lives of the people and about the religious arena in which the Reverend Mr. Hooper’s actions occur.
4. Hawthorne is known for his ambiguity, or the uncertainty that operates within his stories on the levels of language, human conduct, and plot. Choose one short story from this section and explain how such ambiguity asks readers to rethink their assumptions about a particular character, mindset, historical moment, and so on.
