The desert in Young Goodman Brown and Rip Van WinkleIn both stories, Young Goodman Brown and Rip Van Winkle, the main characters are normal, innocent people who s get lost in the woods, then fall asleep or enter a trance. Once the characters return from the woods, the world seems to have changed and they feel lost within their own community. These stories depict the wilderness as a place of mystery and escape, somewhat removed from society and reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Goodman Brown leaves the city to go to the forest. The wood he enters is very dark, described as being "darkened by all the darkest trees of the forest, which scarcely parted to let the narrow path pass, and closed immediately behind" (Hawthorne 606). Goodman Brown also feared that there was “an evil Indian behind every tree” (Hawthorne 606). Along the way, the good man Brown meets a man who seems to be waiting for him, for he says to Brown “'You're late'” (Hawthorne 606). Goodman Brown responds by saying that "'Faith held me for a while'" (Hawthorne 606), suggesting that Goodman Brown was perhaps trying to escape or get away from his wife by going to the forest. Much of the language used to describe the wilderness in the story makes it seem like a mystified and conceded place, which the good man Brown uses to escape his wife and society. He woke up later the next morning, unsure if what he saw in the forest was real or not. “Did good man Brown fall asleep in the forest and only have a crazy dream, that of a meeting of witches? (Hawthorne 614), which further widens the gap between the forest and reality. In Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, Rip is an easy-going guy who "unconsciously climbs toward one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill Mountains" (Irving 459). , in order to avoid his nagging wife. Rip was constantly bothered by “the terrors of Lady Van Winkle” (Irving 459), so he decided to escape into the forest with his dog. Along the way, Rip, like Goodman Brown, encounters someone who appears to be waiting for him, when he hears his name being called. Rip travels with his new acquaintance through the mountains, and Rip hears "a distant thunder, which seemed to proceed from a deep ravine, or rather cleft between high rocks, towards which their path led" (Irving 460). When Rip and his partner arrive at an amphitheater, “wonderful new objects present themselves” (Irving 460). This language makes the wilderness seem like a mysterious place with new things to discover everywhere. Rip gets drunk on too much alcohol and doesn't wake up until twenty years later. Once he returns to society, he is lost and feels alienated. “'I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they changed my gun, and everything changed, and I changed, and I can't say what my name is, nor who I am! » (Irving 464). After Rip leaves the mountains, he returns home, but it is not the same, as Rip has long been isolated from his society in a time of rapid change, and he was not there to see the changes . mind: This is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In both stories, drastic changes occur in the main character's perception of society upon his return from the wild. Wilderness is almost like a world separated from society; things..