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Conflict Essay

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Conflict Essay
Major Conflicts in “Young Goodman Brown” and The Parable of the Prodigal Son In “Young Goodman Brown”, we see that the major conflict is whether or not Goodman Brown will decide to lose his faith when he comes to believe that others he reveres have lost theirs. The major conflict in the Parable of the Prodigal Son surrounds the younger sons’ decision to return home and the elder son’s refusal to welcome his brother home. There is no doubt a conflict of good and evil in “Young Goodman Brown”. Goodman Brown seems to be struggling internally about whether to seek out what it would be like to become a witch, all the while feeling as though he’s leaving behind all the good things in his life. He has to decide if he really wants to become a part of the Black Sabbath worship, or if his true desire is to enjoy life in the village of innocence. The setting itself affirms indecision and conflict in the long winding journey through the woods having to take time to ponder the consequences of his actions. There are many instances in which we see conflict in this story. We see how Goodman Brown grieves at the loss of his “Faith” throughout the tale. After returning to Salem, he becomes skeptical. (UKEssays, Web) He feels he can no longer trust the people he once thought he knew. The conflict is the theme here. It portrays how he spends the rest of his life in distrust.

In Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son, we see the younger son took his inheritance and went on a “journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13). Once his money was all gone, a famine came upon the land. He had to resort to getting a job as a swine feeder. When he realized what he had done, he wanted to return home and ask his father for a job there. He was prepared to admit that the choices he had made were not of good report and only expected his father to give him a bed in the stable. But much to his surprise, his father welcomed him with open



Cited: "Luke 15:7." Luke 15:7. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. N.d. MS. UKEssays. Looking At Young Goodman Browns Personal Conflict English Literature Essay. Web. 25 Oct. 2014<http://www.ukessays.com/essays/englishliterature/looking-at-young-goodman-browns-personal-conflict-english-literature-essay.php>. "What Do Mormons Believe: The Prodigal Son"" Editorial. Meridian Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.

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