journal 30

Nika Bogoslovsky
11/16/07
Hawthorne

"If it be a sign of mourning," replied Mr. Hooper, "I, perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a black veil."

Summary:

Nathaniel Hawthorne's story The Minister's Black Veil is about a minister, Mr. Hooper a gentleman, who suddenly decides to wear a black veil over his face to represent being in mourning. The town's people don't like this new development and alienate him. This quote is from Mr. Hooper and Elizabeth's conversation.

Response:

The veil can symbolize a number of things, Mr. Hooper says it symbolizes mourning and secret sin. It could also mean hiding. I was curious to see the definitions of veil and after looking it up, some definitions I found were disguise, nun’s life, protection, to enhance the appearance from etc. On my own, I thought of a bride’s veil, which I found out symbolizes protection by the husband. I think all these definitions apply to Mr. Hooper’s veil except for maybe disguise. The nun’s life reminds me of how religious the town is. All the town’s people claimed to be so religious yet they ostracized Mr. Hooper once he was different and wrapped themselves in gossip which are not Christian things do. Protection is more obvious. He uses the veil to protect himself from harm and more sin; I think he uses the veil to remind himself not to sin. Similarly to protection, the veil is used to enhance the appearance of mourning, sin and darkness. Mr. Hooper wants to be closer to a sorrowful side and the veil seems to help him. The bride’s veil doesn’t exactly relate to Mr. Hooper’s but I think it’s ironic that with his wearing of the veil, he loses his bride. The veil can symbolize so many different things