Subtle Sin

Hawthorne, O’Connor, and the Nature of Spiritual Naiveté

By

Alexandra Owens

ENLT 2514

Prof. Britta Rowe

October 14, 2017

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Alexandra Owens

Prof. Britta Rowe

ENLT 2514

14 October 2017

Subtle Sin: Hawthorne, O’Connor and the Nature of Spiritual Naiveté

According to Dr. Ralph Wood in The Comedy of Redemption, O’Connor’s literary

kinship with Hawthorne and other American writers lies in her concern about “the nation’s

subtler sin- namely, spiritual naivete” (Wood, 110). In “Young Goodman Brown” and “The

Enduring Chill” Hawthorne and O’Connor explore the spiritual naivete of their main characters.

Goodman Brown and Asbury illustrate the naivete of a dichotomous interpretation of good and

evil. They also convey the sinfulness of refusing to confront the evil within. At the end of their

journeys, Brown and Asbury face the choice to spiritually grow or stagnate. To grow they must

abandon their dichotomous views of morality and confront the evil within themselves. Brown

and Asbury’s final choices diverge, affecting their potential for redemption

Goodman Brown defines good as complete faith and evil as any deficiency of faith.

Asbury defines good as cynical intellectualism while evil is ignorance and gullibility. The

contrast between the two results from the different literary frameworks in which Hawthorne and

O’Connor are writing. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory wherein Brown represents an

average American Puritan. Brown’s notion of good is vague and detached from his personality

so he can act as a representation of a group rather than an individual. He is young, naïve and
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tends to conflate outward piety with a display of true faith. His admiration for his spiritual

mentor Goody Cloyse exemplifies his concept of good. Brown admires Goody for teaching him

his catechism. He considers her “a very pious and exemplary dame” (Hawthorne, 90). She is

“good” in Brown’s eyes because she is externally pious which he believes is a sign of devotion

to her faith. Brown also looks for models of virtue in his family. He calls his ancestors “a race of

honest men and good Christians” (Hawthorne, 91) despite the Devil insisting they were sinners.

Brown denies the wickedness of his ancestors. He believes they are “a people of prayer, and

good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 91). He

never considers that they could be pious, despite their sin.

Contrary to Hawthorne’s allegory, O’Connor studies spiritual naivete through the life of a

distinct character. Asbury’s perception of good and evil connects to his identity as a cynical

intellectual. He evaluates good and evil based on how similar he believes other characters are to

himself. His self-centered morality manifests in his disdain for his ignorant but well-meaning

mother. He insults her intelligence when he considers the letter he wrote to her. He is certain

“her literal mind would require some time” to discover its significance (O’Connor, The

Complete Stories, 364). Asbury does not pity his mother’s lack of education. He tries to punish

her ignorance in his letter by giving her “a painful realization” (O’Connor, The Complete

Stories, 364). He also resents her optimistic attitude and aims to punish her for it. She hopes that

modern medicine will keep him alive and he attempts to convince her otherwise. He repeats the

phrase “I am going to die” and makes “each word like a hammer blow on top of her head”

(O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 372).

Though Asbury’s perception of good and evil is more personalized than Brown’s, both

men refuse to accept that good and evil can coexist within a person. O’Connor and Hawthorne
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portray their dichotomous perception of good and evil as naive and immature. Asbury requests a

visit from a Jesuit priest to stimulate his intellect. He anticipates his visit with a face “like one of

those dying children that must have Christmas early” (O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 374).

Asbury finds the priest unwilling to discuss Joyce or “the myth of the dying god” (O’Connor,

The Complete Stories, 375) and he begins to treat the Jesuit like his mother. When the priest

does not conform to his idea of a good intellectual, Asbury behaves like a child, emphasizing his

spiritual immaturity. He takes pleasure in responding to the priest with contrarian remarks. The

priest asks Asbury “who is god?” Asbury answers “‘God is an idea created by man,' feeling that

he was getting into his stride, that two could play at this.” (O’Connor, The Complete Stories,

376). The Jesuit ignores his snide remarks, so Asbury tries to garner sympathy by shouting “I’m

dying.” “But you’re not dead yet!” the priest replies (O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 376).

Unlike his mother, the priest is not susceptible to Asbury’s ploy. Asbury does not confront the

priest with a reasonable debate. Instead, his shouting attracts his mother’s attention and she

forces the priest to leave.

Similarly, Hawthorne portrays Brown’s refusal to accept good and evil coexisting in

human beings as foolish. The character of the Devil mocks his oversimplified morals. He tries to

convince Brown that virtuous people are sinners by telling him “the deacons of many a church

have drunk the communion wine with me” (Hawthorne, 90). The very idea shocks Brown. “Can

this be so?” he cries “with a stare of amazement at his undisturbed companion” (Hawthorne, 90).

Though he briefly questions his morals, Brown refuses to confront the evil residing in every

person. He distances himself from the sinful group, asserting that he is but “a simple

husbandman” (Hawthorne 90). The Devil laughs at Brown for believing anyone can be

completely free of sin “‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’ Shouted he, again and again; then composing himself,
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‘Well, go on Goodman Brown, go on; but, pr’y thee, don’t kill me with laughing!’” (Hawthorne,

90).

Brown and Asbury both refuse to believe that a sinful person can be good. They also

refuse to believe their definition of evil exists in themselves. Asbury looks for evil in his mother

so he can blame her for his artistic shortcomings. In his letter, he blames her for inhibiting his

imagination. He claims that she made it “incapable of flight” like a bird that is “domesticated,

sitting huffy in its pen, refusing to come out!” (O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 364). He is

sure that he is still a “faithful servant” to art, despite his failures as a writer (O’Connor, The

Complete Stories, 373). Asbury also views himself as the arbiter of forgiveness. He writes his

mother a multi-volume letter so she can “see that he forgave her for all she had done to him”

(O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 364). Goodman Brown is also confident that he is good

according to his own standards. He is aware of his “present evil purpose” (Hawthorne, 88) in

parting with his wife Faith, but he is confident that he will return with his spirit unscathed.

According to Brown, Faith is a “blessed angel on earth; and after this one night, I’ll cling to her

skirts and follow her to heaven” (Hawthorne, 88). He sets out on his journey to find evil with

“excellent resolve for the future” (Hawthorne, 88).

Both Asbury and Brown are forced to confront the evil within themselves. Asbury

discovers that his own ignorance and gullibility is the cause of his suffering. He realizes his

ignorance and blind will to upset his mother lead him to drink unpasteurized milk, causing his

undulant fever. Upon recognizing his inner evil, Asbury experiences the “majestic

transformation” foreshadowed at the beginning of the story (O’Connor, The Complete Stories,

357). As “the last film of illusion” is “torn by a whirlwind from his eyes” (O’Connor, The

Complete Stories, 382) and the Holy Ghost descends on him, Asbury experiences a spiritual
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death. His body is motionless but somewhere in his eyes is “an almost imperceptible motion as if

something were struggling feebly” until “the life was out of it.” (O’Connor, The Complete

Stories 381). Although “the old life within him was exhausted” Asbury also awaits “the coming

of new” (O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 382) which suggests that he may be redeemed.

O’Connor recognizes “the value that suffering can have” (O’Connor, Mystery and Manners,185)

in the process of redemption by referring to Asbury’s discovery of sin within himself as “a

purifying terror” (O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 382). Asbury realizes the rest of his days

will be “frail, racked, but enduring” (O’Connor, The Complete Stories, 382). O’Connor’s belief

in life after death suggests that Asbury’s life may “endure” because he will be redeemed.

Asbury’s opportunity to redeem himself appears inescapable as the Holy Ghost, represented by

the “fierce bird” poised over his head continues “implacable, to descend” (O’Connor, The

Complete Stories, 382).

Unlike Asbury, Brown is transformed for the worse by discovering evil within himself

when he sees Faith at the Devil’s occult ritual. Though “the good shrank not from the wicked,

nor were the sinners abashed by the saints” (Hawthorne, 96), Brown still does not see the balance

of good and evil in himself and others. He begins to view the world as the Devil describes it “one

stain of guilt, one mighty spot of blood” (Hawthorne, 98). He observes that the people he once

believed pious are “men of dissolute lives and women of spotted fame” (Hawthorne, 96). Brown

does not recognize that “good is the ultimate reality, the ultimate reality has been weakened in

humans as a result of the Fall, and it is this weakened life that we see” (O’Connor, Mystery and

Manners, 179). Brown’s weakened perception of reality causes him to view the entire world as

evil. When he returns from the forest he is hostile toward the people he once admired for their

piety. He snatches a little girl receiving catechism away from Goody Cloyse. Brown’s
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assumption that Goody Cloyse is completely evil is viewed by the narrator as false, evidenced

when the narrator refers to Cloyse as an “excellent old Christian.” The narrator also refers to the

minister as a “venerable saint” when Brown shrinks away from his blessing (Hawthorne, 99).

Goodman Brown becomes “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate

man” (Hawthorne, 100) because he refuses to view the world as anything but evil and “shrank

from the bosom of Faith” (Hawthorne,100). Goodman Brown is not redeemed like Asbury which

is darkly illustrated by his death. “They carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his

dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne, 100).

Through Asbury and Goodman Brown, Hawthorne and O’Connor illustrate the remedy to

spiritual naivete. The naïve must reject ignorance of sin and choose to grow in the direction of

redemption with their new-found knowledge. As sin can degrade man’s spirit, so too can it

strengthen his faith. As knowledge caused the fall of man, so too can it redeem him.
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Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” The Celestial Railroad and Other Stories,

New American Library, 1963, pp. 87–100.

O'Connor, Flannery. “Catholic Novelists and Their Readers.” Mystery and Manners , Farrar,

Straus and Giroux, 1969, pp. 169–190.

O'Connor, Flannery. “The Enduring Chill.” The Complete Stories, Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

1971, pp. 357–382.

Wood, Ralph. “O'Connor as a Comedian of Positive Grace.” The Comedy of Redemption,

University of Notre Dame Press, 1988, pp. 107–132.