Isolation In The Minister's Black Veil

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In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hooper’s isolation to reveal the judgemental assumptions and moral values of the community. By assuming of the different possibilities of a sin he could have committed, the community demonstrates their true colors. When Hooper first arrives, they are swift to imagine that a grave sin is the purpose for the black veil. Also, by isolating Hooper, the town demonstrates how judgemental they are and how important appearances are to them. Finally, the community fails to realize the intention of the veil by constantly speculating the sin that causes Hooper to wear the veil. As soon as Mr.Hooper arrives to Milford, society is quick to assume of a great sin behind the reason for why Hooper …show more content…

They begin to show their true colors when they refrain from inviting him to events and intentionally alienating him for wearing the black veil. Despite his best intentions, even the children would avoid him due to his appearance. “It grieved him, to the very depth of his kind heart, to observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up their merriest sport, while his melancholy figure was yet afar.”(Hawthorne 6) The fact that even the children would avoid Mr.Hooper implicates how strong of an influence appearances have on this community if even the children run from his approach. The veil also causes the community to look towards Hooper’s sins instead of focusing on their own. As written in “The Minister’s Black Veil”, “instead of causing the community to look inwards, the veil inspires the congregation to look outward to Hooper and to speculate about his possible dark sin.”(Boone) The community does not realize that Mr.Hooper’s intention is for them to look inwards rather than to judge his appearance and focus on what the veil could represent. While the community is worried about Mr.Hooper’s appearance, they do not focus on Mr.Hooper for who he is and much less do they accomplish the goal of the veil: evaluate themselves and the wrong they are

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