Innocence and Truth

Innocence and Truth

Innocence keeps the soul happy and maintains a friendship with the truth. Besides, integrity has courage towards men. Those, as mentioned earlier are the sentiments written by the great novelist Henry Fielding in some of his satirical and humor-filled works. Indeed, the scholar’s opinion is agreeable concerning some artistic pieces, including short stories and movies. However, Fielding’s opinions, to an extent, contradict the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown. While Fielding’s sentiments on innocence and truth encapsulate most of the life stories and written art, this opinion is not entirely accurate with Hawthorne’s short story. Hence, innocence and truth are controversial sentiments in Young Goodman Brown.

Young Goodman Brown is a satirical literature that depicts several themes such as morality, religion, rebirth, and love. Moreover, innocence and truth are underlying elements closely observed through accurate analysis. Overall, Young Goodman Brown presents two primary themes; loss of innocence and coping with the truth. Loss of innocence is visible when individuals who do not know some awful concepts or do not consider their existence know the atrocious aspects that transform them forever. Each highlighted theme is controversial to the actual text as it presents contemporary accurate, and conflicting ideas. As Hawthorne writes, Young Goodman Brown is a curious religious puritan who sets on the path to discern good and evil (1). In his quest, Brown makes a pact with the devil. Despite the hold back from his wife Faith and his doctrines, Goodman Brown repudiates all and sets on the path with the evil one (Hawthorne 1). Innocent characters in the narrative are Goodman Brown and his spouse, Faith. According to Hawthorne, Faith is capable of reaching heaven, which a good place where evil is anonymous. Brown is also depicted as an innocent character as the devil discloses to him numerous horrible aspects as two walk through the woods. The devil reveals to Brown how his grandfather, his guide, and the preacher have all connected with the devil. According to the narrative, the devil takes the responsibility of mending this lack of understanding by enlightening those who had anticipated for good, that their very nature is wicked.

Therefore, Brown undertakes this journey to disapprove the notion that religion bears no evil, and that all humankind is good. Even when he has the chance to turn back, Brown endures with the journey and eventually falls in the devil’s trap. Consequently, the truth he seeks to discover breaks his spirit and body, and his trust in all humans is lost completely. Therefore, Goodman Brown’s story is the accurate literature to analyze Fielding’s opinions on truth and innocence.

Innocence is glorious, a happy portion of the heart and that with courage before the tongues and eyes of men. Several scholars identify innocence differently. Ticktin defines innocence as the general freedom from guilt, sin, and immorality (578). Innocence purports the state of moral and epistemic purity. Individuals are aligned and embroiled within the spaces of purity that eliminates corruption and contamination and creates ground for tolerance despite its mythical and ephemeral nature. Innocence is a historical event that comes into view from the early relations of theoretical interpretations since the days of Adam and Eve (Ticktin 578-579). Nonetheless, these philosophical histories are epistemic as they highlight the absence of knowledge and experience within moral structures, notions, and the differences in humankind. Thus, innocence is subjective to thoughts, ideologies, beliefs, and religion. Furthermore, some literature disregards innocence as the glorious portion of the heart that can be lost with time and circumstances. Ticktin highlights that the archetypal figure of innocence is a child who lives in a pure and secure world before he is engulfed with corruption, condemned by sinful pasts and controlled by various impulses (579). In this instance, the courage and happiness of innocence are lost and quashed into vile and fear. A reflection on Young Goodman Brown by Hawthorne logically analyzes the two sides of innocence. Moreover, truth as an accompanying facet of innocence is revealed in Hawthorne’s work.

Truth is the most powerful factor in life, according to Fielding (Richter 12). Fielding further states that the concept is the closest friend to innocence that reveals the inner beauties of men. Historical ideas identify six paradigms and notions of truth; correspondent, coherent, ideal, subjective, inter-subjective, and pragmatic (Yadlin-Gadot 40). These notions are depicted from philosophical, linguistic, and clinical theories mostly designed by western philosophers since ancient Greek times. Each notion of truth operates within a logical scope, and while based on ideal and correspondent truth, their definition incorporates a reality that is independent of any human history. This kind of truth does not relate to any other concept whatsoever. However, truth is the greatest friend of innocence. Arguably, this may be the case in some settings, especially in the case of an innocent child. Children in their innocence and mind tend to highlight more on truth matters. For instance, the action of a child to steal may be due to his innocence of acquiring food and the true nature that he is hungry. Conversely, some instances of innocence do not necessarily accompany the truth. Young Goodman Brown is a narrative that could certainly deny this ideology by stating that innocence hides the truth. Even so, some arguable ideologies within this narrative exist that support and contradict innocence and truth as stressed by Fielding. Essentially, Goodman Brown is both a protagonist and antagonist of innocence and depicts the nature of the relationship between innocence and truth.

When we were young, we were innocent and happy. For most moments, we did not worry much about society and the people around us. All we did was to follow our thoughts, do what was right, and conform to our truth no matter how stupid or dangerous the results would be. Even so, eventual maturity exposed us to experiences, truths, and life lessons that changed our entire perception of life. For instance, a story by John Updike stipulates that innocence offers life lessons that are crucial in developing the courage to undertake the unthinkable things in life (Bowers 174-178). However, what matters are the results of such actions. Hawthorne’s satire on Young Goodman Brown supports Fielding’s assessment of innocence. From Brown’s case, the character was an innocent young man who was raised in a puritan religion. According to Brown, all that mattered was his ability to condemn evil. In his innocence, Brown believed in the people of his community and particularly his wife, Faith, who he loved. Through his innocence, Brown challenges the devil in the quest to discover the truth of his religion. Moreover, Brown’s innocence lies in his ancestral beliefs since his father and those before him were all considered honest men and good Christians. Whatever the motives of his journey in the woods were, he sought knowledge of how evil feels. Even with the advice from his wife not to undertake the journey, his innocence in good and religion bestowed him the courage to undertake the journey. Consequently, the truth he was to discover had to justify his innocence and determine the beauties of his religion.

Innocence and courage can be lost on the discovery of truth. Several instances in Hawthorne’s work contradict Fielding’s sentiments on innocence. Brown set on an innocent journey to justify his religion and uphold his community beliefs. However, the consequences of this journey wrecked his spirit, courage, and belief to what he embraced. In his experience in the woods, Goodman Brown discovers that his ancestors had significantly contributed to the vast evil in his land. Besides, those who guided him in his spiritual journey also served the devil extensively. Clearly, his whole community in Salem city worshipped the devil despite their puritan faith. In this moment of truth, Brown lost his trust in everyone and treated any Christian congregation as a bunch of pretenders. Until his death, Goodman Brown led a sad and empty life. However, the realizations and lifestyle were consequences of learning painful truth, which eventually broke Brown’s innocence, happiness, and courage. From this experience, Fielding’s sentiments on innocence are contradictory since they base on the positive element of truth. This concept was not entirely the case with Goodman Brown since the truth was not the greatest friend of his innocence. Instead, the truth of his journey broke his individual innocence and that of his community. Contradictory to Fielding’s opinions, the innocence of truth by Brown only led to fear, sadness, and broken relationships. As Guindon also supports, sometimes learning the truth creates a darker and spiteful environment for individuals (10). Hence, innocence can be preserved by lies while bare truth could ruin happiness, courage, and existing relationships.

The relationship between innocence and truth is argumentative. First, Young Goodman Brown depicts that truth validates innocence. If an innocent person conforms to the true nature of events, his or her happiness and courage grow exponentially. However, innocent souls are wrecked when the ideal truth conflicts their thoughts and expectations. This notion is evident when Brown loses trust in his people and dies a sad man after discovering the true nature of his religion and society’s background (Hawthorne 7). Furthermore, people need to understand that one cannot attain both truths and innocence. Therefore, for one to remain innocent, the real truth has to be quashed. As indicated earlier by Guindon, truth creates inner darkness and lost innocence (10). In truth, happiness and courage concepts are lost while the gloom and sorrow fill the heart. This feeling is typical of Brown’s case as stated, “as he walked slowly into the streets of Salem, he turned against a deacon who was blessing a child, he also looked at his wife sternly and sadly, in Christian congregations, he secluded himself in a corner and muttered some words to himself during prayers” (Hawthorne 8). All the character’s innocence had been lost on discovering the actual truth about his community and religion. Hence, the relationship between innocence and truth is complicated, with the effects of the connection highly experienced individually.

Fielding’s sentiments and the analysis of Young Goodman Brown indicate that innocence and truth are varied factors. From the analysis, one understands that Hawthorne’s narrative highly contradicts Fielding’s sentiments on innocence and truth. Although innocence establishes happiness and courage, truth as a companion destroys innocence, sets confusion, and creates sorrow among those who seek it. Truth, as known to an individual, may not contain the actual elements of life, and this is the truth that contains friendship with innocence. Nonetheless, actual truth, as depicted in Young Goodman Brown, destroys innocence, courage and prevents individual happiness. Thus, in most instances, the relationship between innocence and truth creates some insoluble complexities.