Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness parallels Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, because in both stories, an originally innocent and naive man journeys through an area overflowing with corruption and madness and returns with a more cynical and negative view of the world.

Before Heart of Darkness's Marlow and Young Goodman Brown's Goodman Brown set out on their journeys, each man possesses a naive perception of the world in which they live. Before Marlow travels to Africa, he feels enthusiastic and ready to be a part of colonization. However, he is unaware of the corruption and evil that the facade of the advancement and modernization of colonization conceals. Before venturing into the forest, Goodman Brown loves his wife, and feels bad when he leaves her, unknowing of her sin: ""Poor little Faith!" thought he, for his heart smote him. "What a wretch am I to leave her on such...