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Therefore in the remarkably persistent debate over whether Young Goodman Brown lost faith in human redemption or not, which critics have apparently quarreled over for a century and a half now, this reading takes the side that Brown did in fact retain some core belief that human redemption was possible, or else he would not have been alienated, tried to save the girl or had a family. The resulting message of the allegory becomes that if the reader wants to go to heaven, this will require difficult and deliberate separation from the human community, but may result in achieving the ultimate goal of salvation. Otherwise there is no reason for that costly sacrifice and the reader should just accept personal damnation and join the general mass of well-adjusted hypocrites, if indeed the reference to Salem and the...
This equation is hidden behind the final images of the character's suspicion and gloominess, which seem to indicate on the surface that he had given up all hope for humanity's redemption. Perhaps he had, except for himself, which implies such a state of grace is possible, and therefore all is not yet lost for the human race. This would also explain his raising a family, even if perhaps he remained unconvinced they were as blameless as himself.
References
Bidney, Martin. "Fire, Flutter, Fall, and Scatter: A Structure in the Epiphanies of Hawthorne's
Tales." Texas Studies in Literature and Language Volume 50 (2008): 58-89.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown. " the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mosses
from an Old Manse and Other Stories, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 2008. 22 Feb. 2012 <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/512/512-h/512-h.htm#goodman>
Vegas, 2009.
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