Wildness in Young Goodman Brown and Rip Van Winkle In both stories, Young Goodman Brown and Rip Van Winkle, the main characters are ordinary, innocent people who wander the the woods, then fall asleep or enter a trance. Once the characters return from the woods, the world seems to have changed and they feel lost within their community. These stories portray the wilderness as a place of mystery and escape, somewhat distant from society and reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Goodman Brown leaves town to go to the forest. The wood he enters is very eerie, described as “overshadowed by all the darkest trees of the forest, which scarcely stood aside to let the narrow path pass, and immediately closed behind” (Hawthorne 606). Goodman Brown also feared that there might be “a devilish Indian behind every tree” (Hawthorne 606). Along the way, the good man Brown meets a man who seems to be waiting for him, because he tells Brown “'You're late'” (Hawthorne 606). Goodman Brown responds by saying that “'Faith held me a while'” (Hawthorne 606), and this suggests that the good man Brown may have been trying to escape or get away from his wife by going into the forest. Much of the language used to describe the wilderness in the story makes it seem like a mystified and indulged place, which the good man Brown uses as an escape from his wife and society. He later woke up the next morning, not knowing whether what he saw in the forest was real or not. “Had the good man Brown fallen asleep in the forest and dreamed only a wild dream of a meeting of witches?” (Hawthorne 614), and this further widens the gap between the forest and reality. In Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, Rip is an easygoing boy who "unconsciously climbs one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill Mountains" (Irving 459), to avoid his nagging wife. Rip was constantly bothered by the "terrors of Dame Van Winkle" (Irving 459), so he decided to escape into the forest together with his dog. Along the way, Rip, like the good man Brown, meets someone who seems to be waiting for him when he hears his name called. Rip travels with his new acquaintance through the mountains, and Rip hears “a distant thunder, which seemed to issue from a deep ravine, or rather cleft between high rocks, towards which their path led” (Irving 460). When Rip and his partner arrive at an amphitheater, “new objects of wonder present themselves” (Irving 460). This language makes the wilderness seem like a mysterious place with new things to discover everywhere. Rip gets drunk on too much alcohol and only wakes up twenty years later. Once he returns to society, he is lost and feels alienated. “'I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they changed my gun, and everything changed, and I changed, and I can't say my name, or who I am! " (Irving 464). After Rip leaves the mountains, he returns to his home, but it is no longer the same, because Rip has long been isolated from his society during a time of rapid change, and he was not there to see the changes mind: This is just one example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. In both stories, drastic changes occur in the main character's perception of society upon his return from the wilderness wilderness is almost like a world separate from society; things happen in one place but the other place seems completely unchanged. Both authors use language that portrays.