The Calvinist and Puritan Norms - Essay Example

Response Paper Introduction The short story chronicles the Calvinist/Puritan norms that human beings exist in an of wickedness apart from those born in a state of grace. Considering this, the prevalent theme is that human existence is full of secret depravity. This is manifested in the protagonist’s (Goodman Brown) journey in the narrative, which is symbolic of a person’s real-life struggle. The theme illustrates that one loses his virtue and good morals due to extreme exposure to self-indulgence, distortion, and other evil aspects of humanity (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012).

I think the story explores the evil things that people engage in to gain wealth and power in society. This is comprised of the respected members of the society as well as the ordinary citizens as indicated in the story when Goodman Brown takes a stroll in the forest to discover weird happenings. For instance, Brown discovers that the Governor, together with his wife, Faith, is an evil group of associates that meet daily in the middle of the forest. If the story was to be written from Faith’s point of view, then it could not expose human evil deeds.

It is apparent that people pretend to be good and decent members of society, but engage in wicked things at night (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). Faith could have glorified the wicked habits since she is one of the members who do not care about the repercussions of such habits. For instance, people believe that evil is the nature of mankind and no one can survive without committing sins or crimes. In this regard, Faith’s perspective would explain the benefits of evils in society, which lead to corruption and the accumulation of wealth through greediness (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012).

Symbols are the use of items to represent ideas or qualities that contain similar or different meanings of the actual things. Symbolisms are also marked in the narrative through the use of the devil’s staff and a pink ribbon possessed by Faith. The devil’s staff is drawn from the biblical character of the serpent as a wicked demon. The serpent in the Holy Book enticed Eve to consume the prohibited fruit, which also happens when the devil lures Brown to join their evil group (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012).

In the Bible, the serpent encouraged Eve to sin and wickedness through curiosity. The symbolic aspect of the staff also contributed to Faith’s downfall which derived from her innocence to joining the wicked group at the back of her husband. Another symbol is the pink ribbon which signifies purity (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). This is because the author uses it to show the innocence and fun that people normally associate the color represent. The author uses a sad tone and unique language in order to make the audience relate to the happenings in the story.

For instance, the author describes the clergy and the governor as honorable members since that shows the respect and status possessed by them in society. Another specific word used by the authors is Goodman, which is a representation of the only moral person in the entire community (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012). The other members are wicked and perform immoral things at night when others are not aware by pretending to be the most decent personalities in society. Goodman shows that the human nature of wickedness is prevalent among all people from ordinary members to the most honorable individuals (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012).