Goodman explains his family history to his companion, that his forefathers were devout Christians who have never ventured on the path he is venturing at present, and has always refrained from keeping bad company (that he is keeping now with the fellow traveler). The newly joined companion offers Goodman to hold his staff, if he is fatigued, to which he refuses. He has a staff that resembles a black snake. The man is in his fifties, and is closely similar to Goodman Brown in expression. Goodman Brown meets a man in regular clothing on his way. In this Penlighten article, we provide a summary and analysis of this short story.

Later, it was published under his name in his collection of short stories titled Mosses from an Old Manse in 1846. “Young Goodman Brown” is a short-story written by Hawthorne, which was first published in 1835 in New England Magazine, but anonymously. Herman Melville gratefully dedicated his masterpiece Moby-Dick (1851) to Nathaniel Hawthorne, as he helped in writing it. He also wrote romances that include The Scarlet Letter (1850), The House of the Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860). ‘Twice-told Tales’ is a collection of his short stories published in various periodicals. This line of thought says that various social institutions like organized religion and political parties are not effective in maintaining the purity of an individual, instead people should be ‘self-reliant’ in forming their value system. He was a member of Brook Farm, a community that believed in transcendentalism. He wrote his first literary work, titled ‘Fanshawe’, a novel, in 1828. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a celebrated American writer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. ― Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown

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