Hello again,.. This time I need any information about the point of view of THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW and THE STORY OF YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN... Help needed..... If anyone could help me that would be great,......

-- Anonymous, July 07, 2003

Answers

I suppose you are well aware that these tales are not from Poe's pen, but respectively from Irving's and Hawthorne's one. They liked both to use supernatural matters, for literary effect, but in a way somewhat different from Poe's manner in his own serious stories. Irving played with the "marvellousness" of legendary traditions, often with some touches of humour and slyness, while Hawthorne took from similar sources some gloomier and more frightening aspects in order to lead the reader in allegorical views and reflections upon darker sides of human nature. Poe didn't like those manners and regularly mocked them. On the other hand, Poe,in some serious tales, staged, almost clincally, mental-disordered characters who may pass for having something to do with "gothic" or supernatural mood. Poe's major aim, when serious, was always verisimilitude and plausibility. Note, too, that he was very fond of using current data of his own days, but very rarely legendary ones, and, when doing it, unlike Irving or Hawthorne, never American ones. Probably preferring effective geographical distance just to increase again the truthfulness of his narratives. Are these hints sufficient for your own construction? Good luck. Yours sincerely, Raven's Shade (Belgium).

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2003

I can tell you that in the legend of sleepy hollow Irving wanted to mock the dutch society at that time. He wanted to show the lives of those people, their customs, and was particularly interested in their telling all kinds of superstitious stories. He also used the American historical background when describing th ehessian trooper. Hessian troopers were german mercineries paid by the British to figth with them against the Americans in the Revolutionary War. On the other hand, Young Goodman Brown is an allegorical tale and in it Hawthorne wanted to show the meaning of evil. G. Brown is a young innocent man who learns the other side of himself and that is evil. His journey into the fprest is the journey into his own character. He learnt that all people are sinful, so on that journey he actually grew up. The man whom he meets in the forest is the symbol of devil - we have an old man leadin a young one into the world of adults. When G.Brown saw what he saw in the forest he never later enjoyed life because he realized it was sinful and therefore he became a helpless person. I am a student of English, studying in Croatia and this note of mine is worth taking into consideration because I learned it from my professor of American literature who finished her college in USA. I hope this will help you to understand the point of view of these 2 stories.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2003