Young Goodman Brown

I do believe the story agrees with the assertion that evil is the nature of mankind. Throughout his trip through the woods, we never truly know if this is all really happening or if it is all just a dream. Nothing in the story gives us concrete evidence that these events actually occurred that night in the woods. It remains a mystery to our protagonist because he himself does not know whether the witch meeting was a dream or not. He wakes up the next morning questioning the validity of what he thinks he witnessed. But even through all the ambiguity, the story still ends up with Brown having doubts about the town. Brown himself ends up angry and bitter because he believes the people of the town have sinned by taking part in such blasphemy. He’s still never really sure but just the though of it being true changed his view of the town. The guide’s claim that “Evil is the nature of mankind” stays with Brown until the end of the story and he lived out the rest of his life believing that statement.