The Minister's Black Veil

Ever felt like high school was judgemental? Wondered how one piece of cloth could change a man’s life forever? In this story there is a great representation of both. In Hawthrone’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the black veil is a symbol which showcases the Puritan’s superficiality and hypocrisy regarding sin.
The black veil is a black piece of cloth that the protagonist, Mr. Hooper, decides to wear. Without explanation, the Puritan people were left to react to it as they pleased. Their reactions, however, were not all that positive.
The behavior of the Puritan people changes during the time while Mr. Hooper wears the black veil. At first, they are just curious and uneasy about the veil; Hawthrone wrote, “... strange and bewildered looks

repaid him for his courtesy. None, as on former occasions, aspired to the honor of walking by their pastors side…” (241) Their first impression is also shown by the in-talking between the Puritans. “‘I don’t like it,’ muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meetinghouse. ‘He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.” (240) The Puritans admit that they are frowning upon him without hearing a word from Mr. Hooper himself, but do so anyway. Although, no one Puritan dares come up and ask him themselves about the veil.

Hooper’s act of confession in unheard of in Puritan society.

One was supposed to act saintly, and hide their sins. Especially for a parson, who is supposed to be “above” the others and considered even more so unsinful. Some even go to the length to ignore Parson Hooper’s message. “By persons who claimed a superiority to popular prejudice, it was reckoned merely an eccentric whim…” (246) Overall, the Puritans are not ready to accept the fact that everyone inherently sins, but the black veil brings them face to face with this fact.
This black veil of Hooper’s was not only a symbol of his own sin, but a reminder to each person in his village of their own individual sins. Near the end of the short story, Hooper cries “Lo! On every visage, a black veil,” (248) Which referred to everyone around him, as they are all sinners just the same. It was the point Hooper truly wanted to make with his veil. However, no one wanted to admit it as Hooper had, as it was unorthodox. “You know not how lonely I am, and how frightened to be alone behind my black veil.” (245) Up until Hooper’s death, no one ever worked up the courage to stand with him and admit their own sins. As a whole the Puritans were more willing to leave him isolated than try to understand

him.
In hindsight, the Puritans reaction to the untraditional was expected. If the Puritan people were not so perfunctory to the unorthodox, perhaps they would have understood Parson Hooper’s message to them about sin. Without Hooper’s confession, no one in the village would have ever thought that one another are all sinners themselves.