The short story “Young Goodman Brown,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the story by Washington Irving titled “Rip Van Winkle” are exceptional examples of American literature that are relatively distinguished but share several similarities. Both authors narrate the journey of the stories’ main characters. Goodman Brown and Rip Van Winkle are male protagonists who experience an adventure accompanied by supernatural events that eventually crucially affect their lives.
Both characters’ journeys in the forest and meeting there strange people are similar aspects of these stories. Goodman Brown headed on a short trip to the woods to see an odd elder man. That person owned a notable strange staff, “which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought, that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living serpent” (Hawthorne, 1835). Afterward, the narration includes several hints that this person is the devil in the flesh. Goodman Brown unwillingly followed the man and found himself at some vicious ritual and noticed many familiar people, including his pure wife and other people he thought were exceedingly spiritual.
In the story by Irving, Rip Van Winkle went hunting in the mountains and met a suspicious, oddly dressed stranger there. His dress was ancient, “a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist, several pair of breeches, the outer one of ample volume decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees” (Irving, 1988, p. 33). The stranger and his mates appeared to be ghosts, which was revealed later in the story. Noteworthy, after encountering these bizarre people and drinking offered liquor, Rip Van Winkle fell asleep and woke up after twenty years. Similarly, Goodman Brown founds himself awakening from an awful dream.
Despite mentioned similarities, these stories have some substantial differences. The primary dissimilarity is the impact of the journeys on the protagonists. After the forest journey, Brown became suspicious, wary, and aloof; he lost his faith in God and stopped trusting his surrounding people. In the “Rip Van Winkle,” the main character felt that he eventually achieved relief and freedom: Winkle could afford to be carefree, and his wife no longer scolded him since she had already died.
References
Hawthorne, N. (1835).Young Goodman Brown.
Irving, W. (1988). Rip Van Winkle. In The sketch book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent (pp. 28-42). Penguin Books.