“Young Goodman Brown” (249) is an allegory. Allegories always have an obvious theme or themes. What is or are the themes in “Young Goodman Brown?” Explain your position using excerpts from the story
As an allegory, Young Goodman Brown’s central theme is the contrasts that exist between good and evil. It espouses the most extreme ends of good and evil by presenting a protagonist whose life is a continuous struggle between the two. He starts as a pious Puritan deeply engraved in his faith and beliefs, but that fades over time. Blessed with a staunch and prayerful wife, Goodman Brown is not entirely religious and has several doubts about matters to with faith. Whereas the faces some real devils in his life like when he went to meet the devil, he has an inherent devilish side that is characterized with temptations, a family history of cruelty as well as anger that are all laid out in the open even as he proceeds with his quest. When he made a point of going to meet the devil, he hides after seeing Goodly Cloyse in league with the devil and opts to do the same too.
Some critics see Mrs. Mallard in “Story of an Hour” (15) as justified in her feelings. Other critics see her as selfish and self-centered. Choose a side and explain your position using excerpts from the story.
Kate Chopin presents Mrs. Louis Mallard as a sad and unhappy woman who is forced to endure an unhappy marriage. She is a selfish and self-centered woman because she rejoiced rather than sobered in grief when she initially got wind of the fact that his husband was “dead.” Mrs. Louis Mallard thinks and contemplates the opportunities that she would have as a free woman now that she erroneously thought Brently had died. The news makes her heartbeat strongly, and she even forgets the heart condition that she was suffering. That she thought the world would present her with more opportunities and a brightened future because she thought she was free is indeed bad. She should at least wait for the grieving period to end before thinking about her plight.