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Example research essay topic: Young Goodman Brown Vs Rose For Emily - 1,776 words

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Young Goodman Brown vs. Rose For Emily In this paper I would like to evaluate and analyze two literary works, namely, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Rose For Emily by William Faulkner. The reason for my choosing these two works is the following: I believe that on close reading of the aforementioned novels one can trace the similarity in the personality of the main character is portrayed as being the incarnation of twisted perception of the world and what good and evil is. Young Goodman Brown is a story that spotlights on a man that has to choose between right and wrong, and good and evil.

Towards the end, Goodmans journey from the village through the forest and back again is turned into a self-assessment about his own faith, trust, innocence, and experience. The story is about a good young man struggling on his own spiritual path, which can be paralleled to any of our lives in which we are tempted and have personal struggles of our own. He leaves his familiar place promising his wife, Faith that he will return after one night. Brown is faced with many obstacles leading him to the choice between good and evil.

His vision, though not defined as reality or a dream, he sees people he knows, friends and family, heading towards evil, but in the end he is able to avoid being drawn into the dark evil side. This story basically portrays the simple and not so simple choices that people have to make daily and as they progress through their lives. The story displays choices and consequences that come as a result of making certain decisions. In the start of the story we meet Goodman Brown and his wife Faith who are saying their goodbyes to each other as Brown embarks on a journey through the forest. Faith begs Brown not to go because of the bad feelings she has been getting about this whole expedition, but Brown reassures her that everything will be alright, and he then leaves. This first choice of Browns is one of evil, because he still decides to go even though he knows of the wickedness that the forest withholds, instead of staying with his faith.

Another aspect of evil in this decision is that we see the village as a light place, whereas the forest is known for being a dark and unpredictable place This is the case because in the village, people are normal, happy, everyday people going about their business, which is the light of his life. The forest on the other hand is a very dark desolate place that is known for being unknown, unpredictable, and full of evil, which is generally put along side the mysterious aspects of any situation. When Brown runs into a stranger with a snake like staff we also see the evil portrayed in that regard. As they walk and talk the stranger claims they are not deep in the forest yet, but Brown says too far, but he still continues deeper into the forest. Brown realizes that his father would have never gone in that far, but yet that does not stop him from continuing his journey even deeper.

At that time he recollects about his catechism teacher, but the stranger, representing the devil persuades Brown to embrace evil and go on with the journey into the darker part of the forest. This again we can relate to because we, too, have times in our lives where we are persuaded and tempted to do things that we may not otherwise decide to do. Brown does the same thing by giving in to the persuasions and distractions from people he knows and trusts. In the story, Brown can be considered as a man making wrong decisions towards the evil side, but when the evil reveals whats really going on his true self is shown and rejects the evil and reaches for the good. The setting of this story is extremely important because every element in the story has to do with the mood of a character. If Brown is scared he sees everything as evil, but if he is in a calm state he views everything a safe and secure.

Symbolism and other figurative language play a huge role in this particular story. Faith, for example is his wife, but also his actual faith in all he believes, loves, and trusts. This is a huge part in dealing with Browns innocence and whether he can hang onto his faith, and follow his own instincts as opposed as giving in to the evil he encounters, much like our own decisions we make daily in our lives. There are many levels at which faith can be seen.

There is the surface, which is seeing faith as a person, but then faith takes the role of a higher force, which we all possess. This story basically highlights the power of faith, choice, and truth for us as people. Browns vision might have been all in his head about the people around him, or it may even be the truth. If it is a dream his faith is actually gone because how can he love and believe if he cant even trust.

If it is reality, Browns own choices of rejecting evil make him a stronger person, and it doesnt affect the others around him. They are able to continue with their fake identities pretending to be innocent people, when they know that their comfort, support and love lie with the works of evil. The actual truth of Browns vision will never be certain to us, the reader, but its simply a matter of the amount of faith the reader has in the village inhabitants and their innocence. This particular story to me can be categorized as one of innocence and experience, but also a timeless story. This is due to the fact that no matter when you read it, 20 years ago, or 50 years from now, we all have this faith, but in many different forms. We also all possess a certain innocence about us that we lose when the truth is uncovered and reality sits in.

When a story has to do with feeling or emotion we can all relate regardless of how we think and what we do. In Faulkner's Rose For Emily, the main character is Emily Grierson, referred to as Miss Emily throughout the story. This story has many flashbacks and is told in five sections. The story starts with the death of Miss Emily and people going to her funeral. The narrator lets us know that the men where there out of respect and the women showed up to her house out of curiosity.

The house is described, as once being white and decorated, set on what had once been our most select street. (Faulkner, p. 2) Knowing this we can assume that Emily's origins are of upper-class status, which later leads to issues with her and her father. The story then flashes back to thirty years before the unsuccessful tax collection and two years after Emily's fathers death. The neighbors start complaining that there is a smell coming from her house. This smell oddly appeared immediately after Emily's sweetheart disappeared. The town reacted by sneaking around her house at midnight and sprinkling lime in the cellar and around the house.

The narrator comments about the town taking pity on her because they remember her great-aunt, old lady Wyatt, who had gone entirely crazy. This is another implication of Emily's poor psychological condition, people in her town suppose that since her aunt was psychologically unstable, she can also go crazy in the long run, since there is nothing she can do to stop that genetic disease. The story obviously goes back and forth in time, telling the story of Emily's life. The most significant part of her life is when her father dies.

Emily's father plays a large role in what type of person she becomes later in life. The fact that he felt none of the men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such, " (Faulkner, p. 25) foreshadows her actions later in the story. Critic Donald Akers hints, Emily's repressive life contributes to her rather severe psychological abnormality: necrophilia. (Akers, p. 67). Later we find that Emily is in great denial because she will not admit that her father is dead.

It takes three days before she lets the townspeople take her fathers body away. That is rather strange, the townspeople do not understand why would Emily want to have a dead mans body at her house, they believe that her psychological instability is in progress, however there is not much they can do about it. Then the story takes a turn and introduces her sweetheart Homer Barron. The ladies in town describe Homer as a Northerner and a day laborer. They thought she was going out of her class by having a relationship with him.

Despite the towns criticism, Emily still held her head up high. Then comes the purchase of the arsenic from the druggist. Emily acted strangely when he asked her what it would be used for. As she stared after he asked the question he backed up and wrote for rats on the box. That empty stare that the druggist noticed is still another implication of her psychological breakdown. Emily seems to not realize what happens around her, she is not able to Thus, Faulkner, just like Hawthorne succeeded in creating the image of the psychologically instable person, who was avoided by most of the townspeople and became the central part of the towns gossips.

Emily's psychological problems appear to be the major topic of the story (which I believe is quite similar to the main idea in Hawthorne's work), the author does a great job in showing how her illness progresses and makes her do things, which a normal person would never even think about. Emily is neglecting her neighbors, she does not want to communicate with the townspeople and rarely leaves her house. She does not want to accept the very concept of death, the death of her father and his disapproval of her having a boyfriend being the primary reasons for her madness. Faulkner has created a great and unique story about a psychologically instable person, although a lot of readers are shocked at various facts and conclusions he makes, the story is remembered for a long time after anyone reads it.

Bibliography: Akers, Donald, Overview of A Rose for Emily, New York: Random House, 1999. Faulkner, William, A Rose for Emily, New York: Random House, 1998.


Free research essays on topics related to: young goodman brown, good and evil, rose for emily, innocence and experience, york random house

Research essay sample on Young Goodman Brown Vs Rose For Emily

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