A Failure to Conform Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

A Failure to Conform - Literature review Example Hawthorne’s story begins when Goodman Brown leaves on a nighttime journey through the forest. When the story starts, Brown’s wife Faith is begging him not to go. Her warning, â€Å"may you find all well when you come back† (Hawthorne, 1), seems to indicate leaving them both alone in the darkness will only lead to disaster. In Irving’s story, Rip Van Winkle refused to undertake any work that might possibly earn a profit for himself no matter how much his wife nagged him. â€Å"In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it was the most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him† (Irving, 9). Rip’s nonconformism was in his assertion that thoughts and ideas were worth sharing and exploring while the farming of a useless piece of property just to make a good impression on the neighbors was a waste of good effort. Both men follow a path that appears to be out of the normal pathways followed by others. Hawthorne describes Brown’s path as unusual or outside the accepted norm. â€Å"He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind† (Hawthorne, 1). Although he meets several people from the village on his journey, Brown continues to express surprise and sadness at each meeting because of the â€Å"evil purpose† of the journey. Rip’s path is obviously not one typically traveled by the men of his village either. Not only is the path described as a high place in the Catskill Mountains, but the remote nature of the landscape is revealed when Rip stands up to leave.