The symbolic meaning of characters' names in Young Goodman Brown

英语2101张媛媛

The protagonist's name "Goodman" is homophone with "good man" in English, which implies his good personal characteristic. We can interpret this name as that he is a God-fearing Samaritan. The name of Brown's newly married wife, Faith, is also intriguing. "Faith" connotes something like "trust" and "loyalty", which implies innocent, faithful, sacred, etc. It clearly symbolizes Brown's belief in love, religion, humanity and kindness.

But when Brown left despite Faith's efforts on persuading him to stay, he had chosen to betray his faith. His faith faltered when he meets the priest and other people he used to respect and even want to confess to. At that moment, Faith appeared like the last straw that overpowered his previously unwavering faith. Although in the end Brown held the bottom line of humanity, and did not sell himself to the ghosts, his quiet life had been completely turned upside down.

2103杨桑艳

我觉得young goodman的故事中，作者所思考的东西很深，关于信仰的问题其实是一个很有哲学性的问题，当一个人丢失了他的信仰会产生什么后果值得我们深思，是不是也会像文中的主人公那样失了魂。找到正确的信仰很重要，他之所以会失望是因为他看到了他选择的信仰黑暗的一面，亲眼看到信仰在眼前崩塌，在某种程度上我们可以说他选错了信仰。如果他坚持的信仰坚不可摧，十分光明的话，也不可能最后那么失望。