Security??
“What is uniquely Romantic… is that the person has become a question to himself”. This quote by Louis Dupre shows itself through many of the works that we have read over the semester. We can see them in Poe’s and Hawthorne’s usage of the unreliable narrator to make us and the characters question ourselves as people to Emily Dickinson’s unique style and syntax to make us question the meaning of the work itself. It speaks measures of the author of these works and their ability by the character becoming a mystery to them self. In Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Birthmark” the security of oneself and the security of others lead the characters in these stories to become a mystery to them self. For example in “Young Goodman Brown” Goodman Brown he has a perceived way that the others in town should act and when they don’t act this way that is when he loses their security. In the birthmark this is also present because she has been always told that the birthmark is a charm then suddenly (Aylmer) changes her security by telling her the opposite.
The main thing that keeps people sane is their sense of security (physical and mental) and as human being we go to drastic measure to assure this. We do things like constantly lock our doors to our houses and cars, install security systems on our houses and even become dooms day preppers (people who stockpile food, water and weapons in preparation post a disastrous event). This sense of security is not just a thing seen in the common person but it is also seen higher, more important people. For example every time we see President Barack Obama he is with quite a few security guards. To dive in a little deeper, human beings also possess a need for mental security. In theory one would think that this is the most secure type of security being that’s it’s something that can’t be seen but felt. Usually our upbringing or how we were raised are a key determiner in how mentally secure we actually are. Mental security is usually seen in norms or widely accepted theories (i.e. birds fly, fish swim or rocks sink). There are only a few things that can penetrate these securities. Something that would be an example of physical security or lack of is the assassination of JFK. An example of lack of mental security would be something like a magic trick, which usually defies a norm such as someone levitating (i.e. gravity). Events like these may cause us to lose our security/sanity. In fact human security is so important that in the 1990’s it was incorporated into the Canadian Foreign policy along with being the main focus of their governmental infrastructure (citation #1). You will see its importance of security through these two works and how lack of it can and will lead to the figurative absence of a character.
The security of others is the first aspects in both of these stories that make the character lose/become a mystery to themselves. In the story “Young Goodman Brown” it’s obvious that the character Goodman Brown is experiencing some type of confusion due to the actions of the other town’s people. The way that he thought the people were supposed to act served as the comfort factor or sense of security and when this is lost he becomes lost. The first factor that could possibly lead to the loss of trust/security is the fact that Goodman Brown is a man. There is a study done at the Neuroscience Program at Michigan State University stating that human trust may depend on hormones. It states that the hormone “peptide oxytocin” which has “greater circulation in women than in men…seem to promote more trusting behavior”. Lastly it suggests that “testosterone raises suspicion” (citation #2). Goodman Brown embodies this study and this characteristic of suspicion and can be seen when he encounters the old man with the cane in the woods. You can tell by his hesitancy when moving into the woods with him. He does things like sit on a stump of a tree refusing to go on and he also refuses to take the cane the old man offered him which is just a start of his suspicion nature that eventually leads to his loss of security in those around him. The old man goes on to tell him things that go against his perceived notion that his family is “good” by telling him an the actual history of his father and grandfather that conflicts with his norms. By taking someone that you think you know, someone that is closest to you (family) and having someone else tell them something foreign about them would create suspicion and make you wonder. After a while it’s possible that you may start to lose some trust/security in them. We really see the security lost after Goodman Brown comes out of the woods. As you already know Hawthorne likes to utilize the characters names and positions to set the story up (i.e. Faith, Goody Cloyse and Deacon Gookin). You can see how this effects Goodman Brown when he takes the little girl away from Goody Cloyse . We can see now how throughout the course of this whole story how Goodman Brown becomes a mystery to himself via loss of security in others. In Hawthorne’s story, The Birthmark, it shows how the main character, Georgiana, becomes a mystery to herself due to loss of security in her.
“Oxytocin” is a hormone that is “released during childbirth, lactation, and orgasm, so it is in greater circulation in women than in men in at least some contexts and does seem to promote more trusting behavior”. If one had read this quote about the hormone oxytocin before reading The Birthmark one would easily understand how Georgiana became a mystery to herself. This trusting behavior present in women possibly suggests some sort of gullibility. In the story Georgiana stated she was frequently told that her birthmark is a charm. Since she had not been told anything but this means that this was her norm. Through the opinions of others, she has a allowed her security to be determined those others. You can see how she progressively becomes a mystery to herself by her feelings toward the birthmark and towards Aylmer. A big part of security is having the presence of confidence. These two characteristics go hand in hand (i.e. “if you don’t stand/believe in something, you will fall for anything”). She fully believed that her birthmark was a charm despite the fact that she was possibly being falsely brainwashed, which will eventually be changed. Her security is first seen as strong when she gets angry when Aylmer infers that the birthmark is shocking. At the middle-end of the story we witness a 180 turn when she agrees to have it surgically removed. The fact that she allows herself to be persuaded proves that her security has been lost. This is a combination between Aylmer’s persistence and Georgiana’s chemical makeup as a female. Aylmer banks on the birthmark saying it shows mortality and sin and even has a dream about removing it which all serve as a loophole into the security of Georgiana.
Both of these stories display how the main characters become a mystery to themselves while at the same time showing how the lack of security may lead one to this point. In Young Goodman Brown Goodman, Brown losses security in others through the events in the woods in addition to his nature and chemical makeup being a male. On the other hand in The Birthmark, Georgiana loses her security due to Aylmer’s persistence of her birthmark and the fact that she is female. Though we can see the similarity of security in these two stories there is one contrast that may be easy to look over. Hawthorne uses gender in order to tell how two different characters have lost security (others and in self). He suggest the male character loses security in others and becomes a mystery to himself by playing on the fact that he is a man. A majority of us view men as having a macho, confident, kind of stubborn type personality. He puts the male character in situations that lead him to act in the complete opposite while at the same time displaying the characteristic testosterone promotes, suspicion. According to Part Seven: The Differences Between Woman and Man it states how a lot of people think that women are “not full human being” and “the link between animals and mankind” (citation #3). This assumption belittles females in the way that they are by nature inferior to their male counterparts. This quote also suggests that females do not have a mind of their own according to the animal comparison. This along with the female hormonal makeup serves as a way to be easily persuaded leading to loss of security in herself.
Citations
Francis J. Furtado
International Journal
Vol. 63, No. 2, Russian Resurgence (Spring, 2008) , pp. 405-421
Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd. on behalf of the Canadian International Council
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40204370
“Human trust: Testosterone raises suspicion” Jstor.org. National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America. 22 June 2010. Web. 8 April, 2015.
“Part Seven: The Differences Between Woman and Man” al-islam.org. n.p.
http://www.al-islam.org/rights-women-islam-ayatullah-murtadha-mutahhari/part-seven-differences-between-woman-and-man. Web. 8 April, 2015.