Behind The Black Veil Essay

Mr. Hooper shocks the town when he begins to shield his face behind the black veil on a chilly wintry Sunday morning. What is the meaning behind the veil, many villagers asked? Has he committed a sin behind closed doors? Some villagers claim the veil represents sin, guilt, isolation, a barrier between the minister and the people, sorrow, or mystery, but no one- not even his fiancé- can pry the answer from him. I believe all of these characteristics are associated with the veil in their own little way. I also believe the veil is mainly being used not only as a sign of secret sin, but also as a sign of the space between a person and God, among smaller things like sorrow and mystery then come into play with the veil. To begin with, I think the …show more content…
The main point in Christianity is to admit we are all sinners, believe Jesus Christ is God’s son, and confess our sins to God so that we may achieve eternal life in Heaven with him when we depart from Earth. The veil represents the dark, ugly sins that we cannot remove with our own will power. Only God can wash away our sins when we repent to Him. We can repent our sins on Earth and have hope that the good Lord forgives us, but until we are laying on our death bed meeting him at the pearly gates, we will have to “wear our veil”. All this means is that we are sinners- as every person on Earth is- and that even though we like to imagine being perfect, we are always carrying sin in our heart because we are not Jesus. In the average, every day person “wearing our veil” is just a figurative term to symbolize we are sinners. In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Mr. Hooper literally wore his black veil as a reminder to the community that everyone has an ugly black veil-sin- separating each person from God, just as this ugly black veil separates Mr. Hooper’s bare face from that of the