As Brown and the stranger proceed deeper into the woods, what doesBrown find out that troubles him? When the pink ribbon flutters to the ground, as though fallen from something airborne (par. 49), what does Brown assume? What effect does this event have upon his determination to resist the devil?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The air is filled with a sound of confused but familiar voices, including one entreating voice that Brown seems to recognize as that of his wife; then a woman’s scream is followed by distant fading laughter, after which Faith’s lost pink ribbon flutters to the ground, prompting Brown to conclude that Faith too is a witch who let fall her ribbon while riding on a broomstick to the midnight Sabbath. (Many students, unless you help them, will miss this suggestion.) Sure enough, when Brown arrives, Faith is there too. The ribbon, earlier suggesting youthful beauty and innocence, becomes an ironic sign of monstrous evil and duplicity. This terrible realization causes Brown to decide to follow the devil after all—even though, presumably, the fluttering ribbon was another diabolical trick. When Brown meets the real Faith once more, she is still all beribboned, as if she hasn’t lost anything.