In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, there are numerous formalistic approach concepts. This method to reading, which is one of the most common, has three main points: symbolism, allegory, and allusion. Even though these main points are most prominent, there are other points such as, ambiguity, and organic form.

Symbolism can refer to an image that takes on meaning beyond its objective self. Allegory is the relation between the surface meaning and a higher meaning. An example of this is a man named Christian whose religion is Christian. Allusion is a reference to something else, maybe another piece of literature or another movie. Allusion can lead to the reader's knowledge of the rest of the story. Ambiguity is the use of a particular word, but yet the word itself has many different meanings, which leaves the reader to create the rest. The organic form has two parts: the local texture and logical structure. The local texture is the specific metaphors while the log

ical structure is the basic idea or argument of the story.

The organic form, as mentioned before, has two parts: local texture and logical structure. The local texture is the comparison that is made between things. A comparison in this story would be the description of red fire and a man who is mean and controlling. A comparison can be made to the devil and hell. The logical structure of this story is a young man that has a wife, who ironically is named Faith, goes out one night on a journey. His wife begs him not to go but he does anyway. On his journey he encounters the devil, and because of this devil he loses his wife Faith, and his own faith. When he comes back from his journey he is a changed man for the worst, in a sense that he treats everyone as a sinner, and forever treats people with disgust.

The use of allusions is also present throughout this story. When Young Goodman Brown is talking about his wife, he is constantly talking about his own faith. On page 164, he refers to his wife as his love and faith.

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