"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story set in Salem, Massachusetts around the time of the Salem witch trials. Hawthorne weaves a tale of a young man whose world is turned upside down after a trip in the woods with the devil. Although he manages to rebuke the devil, and even though he doesn't know if what happened was real or a dream, what he learns in the forest that night changes his whole perception of religion and life itself. He comes to realize that his ancestors, his wife, the church elders and most of the town are under the influence of the devil. All these upright citizens, the moral leaders of Salem, who praised God in the light of day would then go and praise the devil in the woods at night. Through symbolism and religious imagery Hawthorne shows the hypocrisy of organized religion and...