Main characters in short stories almost always have a point they are trying to prove to the world. Whether it is against society, God, or themselves. In “The Minister 's Black veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Mr. Hooper who is the protagonist of the story shows up one day wearing a black veil. The Black veil seems to represent everyone 's hidden sins they have or have not shared. He wears the veil to show the society that you should not hide or runaway from your past sins. In “Before The Law” by Kafka a man tries his whole life to get through the gate the gatekeeper told him he can not go into. In “A Clean Well-Lighted Place” by Ernest Hemingway an old waiter battles against the world to prove that people need to be in a light clean quiet place …show more content…
The younger waiter thinks he 's pathetic and asks him to leave. The Older waiter sympathizes with him and believes a clean well lighted place makes someone feel better than being in a dark loud bar. In this story the older waiter is going against the world by saying sometimes people need a break from the rest of the world. Loneliness/depression in a huge factor in the story. The older man Refers the Cafe as the opposite of a bar he can sit at all night and drink. He believes it 's cleaningness gives it a vibe of clarity and light. In an article by Dr. Martin Roth he explains how environment can help improve a person 's depression in older age. Elders who live alone and care for themselves develop a sense of feeling isolated. Being in a happy environment with other people who are happy and seem content can bring themselves to adapt to their mood. In this story the character looks at going against the world as themselves. Doing whatever it is that makes them feel better and content with themselves. Surrounding himself in positive surrounding he feels comfortable …show more content…
He going against everyone else 's beliefs not caring about what they think of him for wearing it. Before everyone would invite him over and greet him and now they were all ignoring him. He was wearing the veil to show people that you shouldn 't hide or runaway from your sins. They are still there no matter how much you try to ignore them and try to act like they don 't happen. Even though he 's wearing the veil he says it doesn 't make him any better than those who are judging him for it. The main character loses all of his friends and loved ones because he isn 't backing down to what they have to say about him and his viel. He went against society by never giving it to what everyone else wanted him to do he wore the veil until death. In “Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography” by Metzler He said Hawthorne had a dramatic skill that helped him come up with a lot of his characters. Also that most of his tales are filled with depressing, hopeless, religious meanings. In conclusion, in every short story the main character is challenging or going against the world in many ways. Whether it 's by challenging the Law, Themselves, or society. Everyone has something they have to prove and they try their best to live life the way they want without regrets at the end of the day. Each one has a lesson behind it that you can relate to one way or another. Everyone’s
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the reader is introduced to Parson Hooper, the reverend of a small Puritan village. One Sunday morning, Hooper arrived to mass with a black veil over his impassive face. The townspeople began to feel uneasy due to their minister’s unusual behavior. When Parson appeared, “Few could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door; many stood upright….” (Monteiro 2). Throughout the story Hooper does not take off the black veil and the townspeople, including Reverend Clark from a nearby village, treat him as if he were contagious disease. A veil typically is used to represent sorrow, but in this story it is used to represent hidden sins. No one exactly knows why he
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both 1700s Puritan works of literature with similarities, as well as differences, from their theme to tone and to what type of literary work they are. Edwards and Hawthorne are both expressing the topics of how people are all sinners, especially in regards to their congregation and that questions their congregation’s faith.
Hawthorne's parable, "The Minister's Black Veil," uses symbols to illustrate the effect of shame and guilt. In the story, Mr. Hooper represents the average Christian with a deep longing to be holy, and have fellowship with man. However he allows the cross that he bears to come between himself and the latter. His secret is represented by the veil he wears. The veil itself is black, the color of both secrecy and sin. Spiritually, the veil embodies the presence of evil in all of mankind. In the physical realm it serves as emotional barrier between himself and everyone else (Timmerman). During his first sermon after donning the veil, it is observed that, "... while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance. Did he seek to hide it from the dread Being whom he was addressing?" (par 10). The veil made Mr. Hooper a powerful preacher. But even the people his messages touched the most would shudder when Mr. Hooper would move close to comfort them, his veiled face making them tremble (par 45). His personal relationships all but ceased to exist. Outside of church, he was seen as a bugbear, or monster. (par 44). Seemingly, the only one that did not fear the veil was his loving fiancée, Elizabeth. Elizabeth symbolizes purity. She is innocent and...
In the story, '"A Clean Well-Lighted Place," by Ernest Hemingway, the younger waiter is a foil for both the older waiter and the old man who comes to drink in the café. The older waiter is concerned for the old man who has tried to kill himself. He understands that there are many lonely people who need a safe, well-lighted place to escape loneliness at night.
These three arguments above compose the main conflict in "Aunt Mary." We can find many other examples to support these arguments. By analyzing two cultures or two religions which are in conflict, we are easy to see the writing purpose of the author and we can go a step further to know cultural or even religious background in that time period.
The Minister’s Black Veil, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1836, is a parable about a minister, Mr. Hooper, who constantly wears a mysterious black veil over his face. The people in the town of Milford, are perplexed by the minister’s veil and cannot figure out why he insists on wearing it all of the time. The veil tends to create a dark atmosphere where ever the minister goes, and the minister cannot even stand to look at his own reflection. In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's literary work, The Minister 's Black Veil, the ambiance of the veil, separation from happiness that it creates, and the permanency of the black veil symbolize sin in people’s lives.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" embodies the hidden sins that we all hide and that in turn distance us from the ones we love most. Reverend Hooper dons a black veil throughout this story, and never takes it off. He has discerned in everyone a dark, hidden self of secret sin. In wearing the veil Hooper dramatizes the isolation that each person experiences when they are chained down by their own sinful deeds. He has realizes that symbolically everyone can be found in the shadow of their own dark veil. Hooper in wearing this shroud across his face is only amplifying the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.
Nathaniel Hawthorne made out his life a source of inspiration. Every event that happened in his life made him think of a way to write about it. The Scarlett Letter was written after his mother died, and it focused on his society and it was used as a strong accusation against the Puritan Americans (Gollin 2605). His works were the results of long-term contemplations of humans and the society of his time, The Minister’s Black Veil is an example of this. A story about a man who decides to walk around his town cover in a black veil that symbolizes sin, and more importantly, “how the guilt we hide from one another and about the dangers of self-absorption” (Gollin 2604). Every major event in his life brought a new theme to his writings and that made it stand out. Just like Irving, he decided that he wanted to pursue of life full of
In the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the Mr. Hooper’s black veil and the words that can describe between him and the veil. Hawthorne demonstrates how a black veil can describe as many words. Through the story, Hawthorne introduces the reader to Mr. Hooper, a parson in Milford meeting-house and a gentlemanly person, who wears a black veil. Therefore, Mr. Hooper rejects from his finance and his people, because they ask him to move the veil, but he does not want to do it. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hooper’s black veil symbolizes sins, darkness, and secrecy in order to determine sins that he cannot tell to anyone, darkness around his face and neighbors, and secrecy about the black veil.
The corruption of hidden sin and guilt is exemplified by the late Gilbert Parker who once said, “In all secrets there is a kind of guilt… Secrecy means evasion, and evasion means a problem to the mortal mind.” Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America’s major authors, often wrote about the harsh realities of human existence such as sin, redemption, and morality. In “Minister’s Black Veil,” the main character, Reverend Hooper, wears a veil over his face during his sermons. Though his sermons are very powerful, a feeling of fear and mystery is evoked in the congregation and often in everyday life due to the strange veil that he refuses to remove. On his deathbed, miraculously, Hooper still has enough strength to resist his veil being lifted; his eyes forever covered, he dies with the veil. Hawthorne uses symbols of the black veil to portray hidden sin, guilt, and peculiar shame attaching to sin in Puritan beliefs.
“Aww romance” is what many people believe when they hear American romanticism. People don’t understand the true evil behind such deep dark stories and what would some call disturbing. They don’t understand that American romanticism is truly meant for authors that talk about intuition over the fact, and these authors tend to elevate the imagination over reason and tend to alter facts to tell the truth. Also, they get to a certain point where they talk about an individual trying to break free when struggling. These writers mostly talk about suspense and spooky stories with a protagonist that are grotesque or twisted. Many people don’t understand that this type of stories aren’t all that great. For example, many people refer to the famous author
...ture these characters in such a vivid way that these characters leave an imprint on the minds of those who read it. I appreciate the work that went into the short story because it gives insight on how a person, whether male or female, thinks. It also shows how societies’ perspective on a group of people could take a negative turn and leave one damaged physically and mentally. It is clear now that violence does not erupt out of nowhere, but is something that is built and tampered with.
The young waiter seems selfish and inconsiderate of anyone else. In the beginning of the story, he's confused why the old man tried to kill himself. "He has plenty of money," he says, as if that's the only thing anyone needs for happiness. When the old man orders another drink, the younger waiter warns him that he'll get drunk, as if to waver his own responsibility rather than to warn the old man for his sake.
The older waiter has much empathy for the old man because he understands him, and shows a lot of respect to him, “This old man is clean. He drinks without spilling. Even now, drunk.”(Hemming Way 108) They have the same state of mind, both shares the solitude that age had isolated them from the rest. The younger waiter whom is confident, whereas, the older waiter is old and modest, ”No, I have never had confidence and I am not young.” (Hemming Way 109) He’s reluctant to close the café, he knows that someone else here just like him and the old man that needs the café to hide from loneliness, “You do not understand. This is a clean and pleasant café. It is well lighted.” (Hemming Way 109) Nevertheless, it is clear that the mature waiter has different appreciation and understanding the importance of life comparing the younger waiter.
Throughout the story, you can tell that the younger waiter is just carefree and he points out all the bad things and is not always nice to the people that go to the cafe. He is the person that does not see the significance of all his surroundings and he does not see that not everyone has a good home life and are sometimes lonely. He would treat people based on how they acted and what they were doing while being in the cafe. The younger waiter was not very nice and caring to the old man who was depressed which he knew that he was. This is just one example showing that he was not seeing the significance of his surroundings, especially for other people.