In comparing and contrasting the stories “Worn Path” and “Young Goodman
Brown”. Several things come to mind . We see that both authors use a lot of
symbolism as well as foreshadowing. Also, Both stories take place in the forest
or along a path. In the story “Worn Path” the author makes use of symbolism
in diffident ways. The most obvious example is that the path, itself ,
symbolizes the old women. She is desc- ribed as bent , crooked, old and wore
out. This description would also fit the well wore path that she travels so
often. In the story “Young GoodMan Brown” the author makes reference to the
appearance of the fellow-traveler and his likeness to Young GoodMann Brown. It
is hinted that the fellow- traveler symbolizes the Devil. We can associate this
as the evil that lies within us all. Both authors use foreshadowing throughout
the stories to let us know what is to come. One example of foreshadowing is When
the fellow-traveler in “Young Goodman Brown” is walking with a cane that
looks like a snake. This hints to the evil that is to follow. A another example
is when the old woman speaks of how hard the path is to travel. This lets us
know that she will face many hardship along the way. In conclusion, the stories
“Worn Path” and “Young GoodMan Brown” contain numerous like similarities
and differences. One could interpret these in many different ways. However the
stories seem to share more likenesses than differed.