Young Goodman Brown, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835, is set in 1600s Puritan Salem, Massachusetts, harkening back to America’s colonial pre-history. Hawthorne’s allegorical short story follows a young Puritan, Goodman Brown, who must leave his doting wife, Faith, and journey into the dark woods on an unknown, perhaps evi, task. Encountering many questionable figures in the woods, Brown begins to question his entire community. As his piety faces its ultimate test, he holds on to the unshakable convictions of his wife for refuge until that foundation, too, is broken. True to an allegorical structure, this story operates on two entirely different levels – the literal being a young man leaving his wife to attend a witch meeting. Yet, the symbolic level rises above as we can look at the strategies Hawthorne employs to make his much greater critique of the Puritan faith. Specifically, this notion of doubt and a deeply troubled society obsessed with rooting out evil and questioning everyone’s faith.