The Consequences of Decisions
...’s intentions. Immediately after Major de Spain leaves in the direction of his barn, Sarty begins to run after him; he realizes what he has done in his morality driven haste. “…and he, springing up into the road again, running again, knowing it [is] too late yet still running even after he [hears] the shot and, an instant later, two shots…” (494). Sarty knows instantly he has made a bad decision and there is no way to correct it because his haste kills his father, and there is no bringing him back; he also knows the suffering his poor judgment has brought upon the other members of the his family, and he must deal with this sorrow forever. “Sarty knows to decide between right and wrong and establish a moral foundation” (Beall). Like Sarty, the minister in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” makes a decision out of his spirituality and morality that has mostly negative affects on his life. The minister decides to wear a black veil over most of his face to hide his sins from God and the townspeople. All of the townspeople, including the children, almost immediately shun the minister and avoid him whenever it is possible. The minister’s beloved Elizabeth even abandons him unless he agrees to remove the veil. While the minister is on his deathbed, he cries out to the few people by his side how lonely the veil has made him. “Tremble at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil” (401)? However, the minister’s cause is so strong he chooses to live his entire life completely miserable and full of nothing but solitude and despair with the veil as opposed to removing the veil and indulging in the company of other people. Unlike Sarty and the minister, Goodman Brown in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” does not make a decision because of morality and spirituality, but instead he makes a decision that goes against his morality and spirituality but nevertheless he feels the negative effects of his bad decisions. At the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown is telling his wife, Faith, goodbye before he goes on a journey through the woods. Faith begs Goodman Brown to stay at home with her and to abandon his plans; he refuses to not go and leaves her behind. During his journey through the woods, Goodman Brown meets up with his accomplice, the devil. While traveling through the woods with the devil, Goodman Brown recognizes several of the respectable townspeople are also traveling through the woods along the same path. Upon reaching the end of the path, Goodman Brown sees all of the townspeople at a ...