Minister's Black Veil Symbolism

Nathaniel Hawthorne delves deep into the morals of human sin during the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Hawthorne utilizes symbolism that helps to represent romantic views and ideologies in writing. These symbols such as the veil, the village physician, and the conflict created by Elizabeth convey morals relating to the archetypical theme; where the opinion of the atypical differs between contrasting characters.
For the duration of the story the minister has a black veil that is cast over his face. This black veil is arguably the most apparent symbol in the story. This black veil is meant to represent the sin that all humans carry a burden to but don’t admit to having.
Unanimity is a theme that had been taught by many powerful

writers and speakers in order to get a point across. In the instance of Gandhi, the goal is to unify the Indian people to oppose the British salt tax.

In one of Gandhi’s writings, he blatantly states that “We can refuse to pay taxes if we have the requisite strength” (Gandhi). This statement shows that the Indian people have to work as a unified body in order to create change and do good. Thoreau similarly wants change in the government, which requires people’s personal opinions. Thoreau conveys the idea of unity by teaching that everybody should be one with their own consciousness. Gandhi similarly to Thoreau says to “Never bow to outrageous laws” (Gandhi). Which is conveying the idea of opposing the government because you feel they are doing something wrong. Nelson Mandela, the deceased president of South Africa, started his life in prison and worked his way up to the top of society. During his lifetime, Mandela taught many lessons that many people can learn from. On May 10th Mandela was inaugurated as Deputy President of the new Democratic, and non-racial South African government. During this inauguration both the old anthem of the republic and the new anthem of the democracy were sung. In order to create unity in this non-racial government the whites sung

the new anthem and the blacks sung the old anthem to symbolize that unity between the two races had been reached. Another sense of unity that occurred in the South African government was when “A spectacular array of South African jets, helicopters, and troop carries roared in perfect formation over the Union Buildings” (Mandela). This form of unification shows the steps that have been taken inside of the government to make sure the new democracy works without major conflict. This is also similar to Thoreau’s stance on unity since his views require change from the government. Overall, Thoreau, Gandhi, and Mandela all had similar views that required unity in order to convey a message.
Something that many people have taught throughout humanity is that peace is the best answer to any argument. Gandhi specifically uses peaceful protest to put his argument forth. There is one quote by Gandhi particularly stands out compared to others regarding peace. It reads, “One way is to smash the head of the man who perpetrates injustice and to get your own head smashed in the process” (Gandhi). The point Gandhi is trying to get across in this sentence is that there are two paths to dealing with problems. The peaceful way and the violent way. The people who choose the violent path will usually experience later conflict as a result of the violence that they committed. Similarly Thoreau, opposes violent conflict and expressed his issues with the government through Civil Disobedience. Gandhi also taught that even after a war ends and peace is sustained, war will always make it’s way back. Nelson Mandela also changed the way the South American government worked through peaceful means. Something interesting that Mandela says is that “People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love” (Mandela). This quote has a much more real world effect on people. Mandela realizes that people do bad deeds sometimes. He also knows that are good people as well. His goal is to bring out the peaceful side of people. This is similar to Civil Disobedience’s main purpose in trying to inspire people to try to reach their individual conscience. Peace is something that these writers used to have a profound impact on our society.
Without Justice in our society, there would be chaos since people would be able to do harmful things without any punishment.

In Gandhi’s case he didn’t want people to “Bow to outrageous laws” (Gandhi). Which means that people should have the right to disagree with the government. This is what Gandhi and the Indian people did in order to oppress the British salt tax. This is the same message that Thoreau was trying to convey in Civil Disobedience. They are arguing that people have the right and should speak their mind about what the government is doing. The conflict comes in when a government is oppressive and doesn’t allow people to have these basic rights. Nelson Mandela believed in justice for a whole race. His mission was to make blacks equal in South America. This is another form of justice that is being represented. It is justice for a whole race that required major change in the South American society. All of these pieces of writing have to do in some way with the government, whether it be directly or indirectly. All of these writings talk about creating justice in society, specifically relating to a

government.
In conclusion, all of these writers have had a profound effect on society. They have all argued for their causes through writing. These writers have also been influenced by each others writings and teachings. Specifically they taught the values of individuality, peace, and integrity.