Extremism Revealed in Hawthorne's Young Goodman BrownHawthorne depicts a 17th century Puritan attempting to achieve justification as Brown's faith demanded. However, at the end of his journey, Brown could not face the terrors of evil in his heart and chose to reject all of society. Puritan justification was a subject that Hawthorne was aware of as a necessary trip to hell for a moral man. After calling the heart of man hell, the Puritans found themselves in the midst of Satan and his multitude of demons as he established his kingdom in the heart of man. It was a terrible revelation that made Brown bitter and suspicious. Puritan communities, secured by their Orthodox faith, faced the ungodly wilderness that surrounded them. Set in Salem in the early days of witchcraft, young Goodman Brown's experience in the dark and evil forest correlated and would have been recognized by the Puritans as a symbol of distrust of their own corrupt hearts and faculties. Just as man could not trust the shadows and figures he saw hidden in the forest, neither could he trust his own desires. These desires must have been tested during his journey into the forest. These evil spirits constantly tortured the Puritan, constantly reminding him of his sin and the battle in his own heart. Hawthorne used the presence of this demon in “Young Goodman Brown” by demonstrating, through Brown, the Puritan journey to justification. The crossing of the forest towards Justification is marked by the disappearance of oneself. In place of the self was the consciousness of helplessness and the illusions of sin. This awareness would then help the moral man to no longer depend on material things or people, but to place his faith solely in God. Hawthorne's knowledge of the historical context of Puritanism combined with his personal childhood experience and his own family history coalesce into the statement of "young Goodman Brown." A system in which individuals cannot trust themselves, their neighbors, their teachers, or even their ministers cannot create an atmosphere where faith exists. Hawthorne's story places the newlywed Puritan Brown on the road to what may or may not be a true conversion experience. The conversion experience, a sudden realization brought about by divine intervention, a vision, or perhaps a dream, easily translates into the dream of Hawthorne's work and allows the author to use the doctrine Puritanism and the history of Salem to argue the merits and consequences of such a belief.