In Nathaniel Hawthorne short story Young Goodman Brown, the pink Essay

In Nathaniel Hawthorne short story Young Goodman Brown, the pink ribbons are used symbolically to represent purity - Essay Example One such citation of the pink ribbons found on Faith’s cap include Goodman’s thoughts, in which he looks at Faith as an angel that was sent to earth meaning and implies that at one time she will resume her heavenly duties. As such, the mention of the pink ribbons in Goodman’s case are a sign of blessings and innocence in which case Goodman believes in savoring Faith’s innocence by clinging on to her skirts and following her to heaven. This is symbolic of taking her innocence, pink ribbons, by first signifying a common belief related to the color pink, which is then accentuated by the fact that they are ribbons. Following the above argument, the ribbons at one point or the other point to Faith’s femininity, but this idea is then taken over by the concept of innocent. One such case in which femininity is suggested by the pink ribbons is in the fourth paragraph of the story, where Faith says, â€Å"Then God bless you.† (Hawthorne 2). The succeed ing events are those of Faith peeping at Goodman and her ribbons still showing. Following this, the ribbons signify the fact that she is feminine and that is part of the aspects that draw Goodman towards her and is again applied to draw her character and put it into a realistic form factor. This is such that the ribbons on Faith’s cap are pink, and this can be looked at the purity of the color, which is non-existent. For pink to be made existent, there is a need to mix red and white, which in this case draws out quite a scoop in building Faith’s character, especially considering the independent meanings of the two constituent colors. Pink is made of white, which is used to symbolize purity and innocence as is the case of Goodman calling her a blessed angel, while red represents a totally different feature. Red signifies prostitution and blood, which in this case when put together to create the color pink indicates the different faces or characters of Faith. The charact er are in that the ribbons stand for the young stages of life that Faith is at and the youthful and angelic innocence she bears, according to Goodman. It however goes on to symbolize the aspects of an unlived life that can only be achieved when Faith becomes of age and matures to see the world for what it is rather than living a sheltered life. Goodman brings out this symbolism in that he is of the opinion that in spite of all the sin in the world, only he and Faith are exempt to all the evil around them, which unlike earlier, he would like to preserve her innocence. At one point, Goodman accepts to being sinful and attempts to shield Faith from losing her innocence, where Goodman views her as a steadfast anchor against sin. To further indicate Faith’s purity, the ribbons are read as having fell and Goodman picking them up after they come of her cap. Goodman takes them as a sign of Faith having fallen from the glory of god and that her innocence is breached. As a result, the ribbons strongly represent innocence and purity of Faith’s character in that when they fall of her cap Goodman screams, â€Å"My Faith is gone!†, which then indicates the value attached to the ribbons by Goodman as a symbol of Faith’s state of being innocent and youthfully pure (Hawthorne 9). Altogether, symbolism in relation to the pink ribbons that are repeatedly mentioned and referred to in the story is used to depict a number of