The people, objects,
and events in this story are, indeed, invested with enough symbolism to justify calling the text
an . Salem is a place of apparent order, where all seem to follow the rules and abide by the
dictates that keep society from turning into chaossymbolic of any and every community with its
own specific set of rules. The forest is a place outside these rules, a place of lawlessness
and, hence, temptation. It symbolizes any temptation that might compel a person to behave in a
manner which is out of sync with the rules they desire or purport to follow.
Brown, an everyman character as indicated by his common name, thinks of himself as a "good
man" even though he is quite willing to meet and walk with the devil in the forest. Many
Puritans did, which, Hawthorne points out, makes it ironic that "Goodman" and
"Goodwife" were common titles. His "Faith"a symbol of his Christian
faith"kept [him] back awhile"almost preventing him from going into the woods
(i.e....
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