Faith

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While reading "Young Goodman Brown" I noticed something that appeared quite often when the narrator spoke of his wife Faith. It seemed like everytime Brown spoke of his wife, he mentioned the flowing, beautiful, pink ribbons in her hair. It may have just me but did these ribbons have some kind of significance towards her character? Did it tell what kind of person she was? I would not have thought anything of it if Hawthorne did not stress the detail of the pink ribbons so strongly. What significance did you see in the use of the pink ribbons?

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2000

Answers

I think that if, as it was mentioned in class, Faith was to represent man's faith in God, the pink ribbons were to mean innocence and purity, as well as beauty. All in all I think it was Hawthorne trying to give us a sense of Faith's sweet personality, and in so doing giving us a sense of what faith is as well.

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2000

I think the pink ribbon told us about her character that she was sweet and innocent. Hawthorne uses alot of symbolism in his stories and Faith is seen as Goodmans true faith. The ribbon represents how pure she was and I believe at one time he found the ribbon so that means he truly lost his faith.

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2000

Faith, her name gives you an indication that she is good and pure. The pink ribbons are a symbol that support your thinking of her being sweet, good and pure.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

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