![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Veil-250x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Minister\u2019s Black Veil provided a question that stood out to me. \u201cHow can we judge others for our sins if we can\u2019t face our own?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Nathaniel\u2019s short story where he uses a minister to play on the condemnation of human conditions, I saw that he used the reactions of the townspeople to show how humanity gets uncomfortable when others’ faults reflect our insecurity. The people\u2019s opinions contributed to the reality of society and that helped deepen my understanding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For context, I’ll give a brief summary of what the story is about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0The Minister\u2019s Black Veil takes place in a small town where gossip travels quickly, and the people use each other’s imperfections to place themselves on a higher pedestal. Mr. Hooper is the presenting character, and he is also the town’s reverend. Which was pointed out to be quite remarkable as \u201cMr. Hooper, a gentlemanly person of about thirty, though still a bachelor\u2026\u201d which was intriguing in the eyes of the people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the story Mr. Hooper goes to be the priest at a funeral, which he very first reveals his new identity with the veil. This is also where I first see some of the answers to the question I focused on earlier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At this funeral the narrator points out the opinions the people have about Mr.\u00a0 Hooper as a reverend.\u00a0 Some felt uncomfortable, for example one person said, \u201cI can\u2019t really feel as if good, Mr. Hooper\u2019s face was behind that piece of crape.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Then there was a woman who expressed that Mr. Hooper making the choice of wearing the veil was inappropriate by saying \u201cI don\u2019t like it,\u201d muttered an old woman, as she <\/span> hobbled into the meetinghouse. \u201cHe has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.\u201d\u00a0 There were more of these opinions, a lot of the people in the church saying that Mr. Hooper has basically gone crazy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To me, that statement was ironic in spite of the fact that the people were having these dramatic reactions because a man just decided to wear a veil.\u00a0 But what if that\u2019s it?\u00a0 What if their reactions were normal? Maybe we would have all felt the same if we started seeing ghosts the day Mr.\u00a0 Hooper walked in with a statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During that funeral there were just comments of disdain and disappointment.\u00a0 Everyone just speculated about Mr. Hooper, but none of them said anything to his face.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t ask him why he was wearing the veil. I believed it was because they couldn\u2019t see his face.\u00a0 From that whole scene there was a reflection of society in reality when things are questioned, and gossip is stirred. The townsfolk were like gossiping schoolgirls, they didn\u2019t even attempt to ask about his intentions, since they couldn\u2019t see his face, I think that meant he had no right to reflect on his own purpose with them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n People\u2019s faces and minds can be considered as veils. They hide our inner thoughts and our inner intentions.\u00a0 For some, those could be things that could be distasteful to others.\u00a0 But we also use our facial expressions to conceal our judgment.\u00a0 I mean, there are people who can smile in the face of their enemy. \u201cBut can some people interpret a face?\u00a0 <\/span>You may ask.\u00a0 And that answer is, “Well, of course!\u201d And with that in mind, there\u2019s some people who raise their eyebrows when people cry. When someone reflects your inner pain, you may find yourself uncomfortable too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There was a woman who said that she saw Mr. Hooper in hands with the spirit of a deceased girl at the wedding which came after the funeral.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t true.\u00a0 He most definitely wasn\u2019t prancing around with a deceased girl.\u00a0 That point in the plot though was showing what the people were judging him for.\u00a0 And spoiler, it was just speculation!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Hooper was just doing his sad preaching, but the woman started a rumor which spread.\u00a0 And I guess by that point, they just had a collective delusion. That delusion was disguising their own faults, as long as they focused on Mr. Hooper\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The day after that, people everywhere talked about the veil. Which to all the mothers, pastors, and children was more than just a piece of cloth hanging down his face, but instead a symbol from his heart that resembled a fearful secret between him and them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That secret, to me, has to deal with their own personal self – struggle and now it feels like their reverend is mourning their soul because their personal self-guilt is eating them up inside. \u00a0 I know that just got dark, but I mean-\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Listen!\u00a0 This is how bad this got! (Mr. Hooper and his self-reflecting veil.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the middle of the short story Mr. Hooper went back to his home to his wife, Elizabeth.\u00a0 After some commentary they basically have this discussion about the veil of course.\u00a0 She told him that she thinks that if he must wear that mask then he shouldn\u2019t wear it in public then she asked if she could see his face and he explain how it all started.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He didn’t take it off, but he did hint that one of the reasons he was wearing a veil was because everyone wears a veil every day.\u00a0 His veil was just visible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Elizabeth didn\u2019t think that was a good enough reason, so with a sorrowful farewell.\u00a0 <\/span> To sum up what happened after that, I\u2019m going to provide this statement from the story,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn this manner Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal anguish. As years wore on, shedding their snows above his sable veil, he acquired a name throughout the New England churches, and they called him Father Hooper. Nearly all his parishioners, who were of mature age when he was settled, had been borne away by many a funeral: He had one congregation in the church, and a more crowded one in the churchyard; and having wrought so late into the evening, and done his work so well, it was now good Father Hooper\u2019s turn to rest\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mr. Hooper passed while still wearing that veil. \u00a0 Before he died though, he gave a monologue with his final breaths that basically called out everyone who made him as if he\u2019s a monster all because he wears his sins on his face.\u00a0 But there will be a day when everyone has to take off their visage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, yea, what I got from this short story is that basically judging others so we wouldn\u2019t have to judge ourselves is a big thing in the world. It\u2019s so bad we even make each other seem as if we\u2019re monsters, but we are all monsters deep down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I read this story in ninth grade, and didn\u2019t fully understand it at first. So, it was interesting getting this refresher after I just randomly thought about this while looking out the window one day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Minister\u2019s Black Veil provided a question that stood out to me. \u201cHow can we judge others for our sins if we can\u2019t face our own?\u201d\u00a0 In Nathaniel\u2019s short story where he uses a minister to play on the condemnation of human conditions, I saw that he used the reactions of the townspeople to show … Continue reading “What I took from Nathaniel Hawthorne\u2019s “The Minister\u2019s Black Veil.””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,5,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20594,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592\/revisions\/20594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/span>She left Mr. Hooper hidden under his dark veil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n