I began my Hawthorne reading task with The Birth-Mark. I picked this story because I am familiar with the Maypole of Merrymount and Young Goodman Brown, and I wanted to try something different. I was pleasantly surprised with The Birth-Mark, in my mind it far surpasses the latter two stories. I think one of the most admirable traits of Hawthorne is his ability to write as though actions are taking place somewhere in the present. Aylmer could very well live today, somewhere in the world with his laboratory in the backyard. Men like Young Goodman Brown are everywhere in today"s...
Puritan blood in his veins, which makes him a cowardly man. He is a conformist, instead of standing against the wrongs of his community he embraces the same fate as everyone else. The theme of the story carries through to today"s society. Oftentimes people will join groups or subscribe to ideologies they otherwise would not due to that fact that so many of their kin and respected leaders do. The story made me think of Thoreau. In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau actions toward the Mexican War are the antitheses of those that would have been done by Young Goodman Brown.