17;t matter if he leaves his own at home because it will be waiting for him. Brown meets the devil along a crooked path, and the devil asks why he is late; Brown replies, “Faith kept me back awhile”(311). The “faith” Brown has left behind is not just his wife, but also his literal faith to satisfy his burning human curiosity. Brown shows his desire to break loose from his normal life by meeting Satan, the spawn of all rebellion, in the forest. Brown tries to fight the evil inside of him to tell the devil he must go back to his faith, and the devil convinces him that they will walk the crooked path and reason as they go. The devil says, “and if I convince thee not thou shalt turn back. We are but little in the forest yet”(312). As they venture further into the forest the devil tries to strip Brown of his faith, but he realizes this and stops to exclaim, “Too far! Too far!”(312). Brown argues the good Christian background of his father and grandfather would never walk upon this crooked path with the devil by their side. The path that Brown is on causes him to gamble with his soul under the promptings of the devil, and he knows he must choose to either roll the dice or turn around and go home. The devil is prepared for such resistance and refutes Brown’s declaration of his ancestors by saying, “They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after midnight. I would fain be friends with you for their sake”(312). The devil is telling Brown that all men have a basic evil and an attraction to devil worship, even the so- called “virtuous” people he knows. Brown makes the choice to follow his virtuous thoughts and stop his agreement with the devil. He tells the devil the reason he can’t is because of faith “[i]t would break her dear little heart and I’d rather break my own̶...
