What kind of story is it?

Hawthorne's story is a great example of an allegory.  In
an allegory, most of the items, characters and events carry real significance as well as
symbolic significance.  Another way to answer the question is to point out the story is
written in the period of American Romanticism.  This literary movement frequently
explored the idea of the power of the human imagination; the inherent goodness of man,
the power of nature; the nature of good and evil. The list could go on, but those themes
are clearly present in this story.  In "Young Goodman Brown" you can see the connection
between the two topics above.  The good vs. evil is presented though the symbolism of
the woods, through Faith's pink ribbon, through the trees on fire at the witch's
meeting, and the characters of Goodman Brown, Faith, and the old man (devil).  For each
theme, there will be symbolic elements that illumate Hawthorne's
meaning.