Oct. 5, 2010 "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Charles So
Eng. 48A
Journal for Hawthorne
Oct. 5, 2010

Author Quote:
"Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!" (Hawthorne 1320)

Internet Quote:
“The story's macabre tone and repressive early-colonial New England Puritan setting are familiar elements in Hawthorne's fiction, and they serve to underscore the unsettling behavior of the main character and the work's concern with the nature of secret sin and humans' fallen nature”(e.notes.com)
　
Summary:
Father Hooper was incited to say these words by Reverend Clark, who selfishly came to the dying bedside of the Father, in an attempt to reveal the secret behind the black veil. The quote from the dying Father is very eerie as he reveals all the misfortunes that the black veil has put on him and brought out on others. From the beginning of the “parable,” the black veil brings out antipathy from all the people around him because they presume there is something dreadful about it, although Father Hooper is the same in act and demeanor, his black veil brings out the negative imaginations of others which leads to the slow separation between the Father and neighboring people.

Response:
The main theme of “The Minister's Black Veil” can be interpreted by Father Hooper's dying words and who he says it to; Reverend Clark. The Reverend is a great example for the dark nature and actions of people to the unknown such as the black veil. I say this because the Reverend presents himself as being there to show respect to the Father and as a guide of some sort to his death, however the Reverend is there only to find out the secret behind the black veil. As he is denied his true rude nature comes out and Father Hooper lets out his last statement in which I feel he condemns society for the way they have treated him and others alike.