The Minister's Black Veil Analysis

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In the short story, The Minister’s Black Veil, the minister is seen wearing a black veil upon his face which is quite odd for a person of faith to do. The veil in the story can carry many themes, such as hiding sin, being ashamed, or just being scared. The most apparent theme is how someone, even of faith, can still sin and feels the need to hide it. The veil is obviously meant to hide something from the people and maybe even from the minister himself. Reverend Hooper gives a sermon about how people often forget that God sees everything, that he is always watching over us so that it is foolish to hide our sins. During this time period, the people with their puritan way of life felt that if a sin was committed, the sinner should be shunned

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    416), while it gave Hooper a more intimidating, enigmatic and somewhat inhuman demeanor that isolated him from the community his services were still available for his community. The book even says that it “enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections” (pg. 416) as many people, particularly the ones who were guilty of ‘secret sin’ felt comfortable and/or compelled by Hooper into confessing their sins. The people felt that they could tell him everything they kept secret, because the veil’s “gloom” and foreboding aura gave him the same aura of mystery. The black veil kind of symbolizes a cover-up that humans use every day to hide their real feelings and thoughts, as many people are never truly honest with others and each convey some sort of secret. It appears that the idea in this story is that humans by nature are sinful and are all guilty of some hidden sin that they try to keep in the dark because having sins is not considered human or moral. It’s not a very positive outlook on humans, but the book does seem to convey that idea, as Reverend Hooper himself is a flawed man guilty of secret sin as revealed in the end, making him no different from the rest of the townsfolk who have their own sins that they hide. However, it also shows that humans are hypocritical by nature because they are so flawed as in the end Hooper proved that he did exactly practice what he

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