"The Minister’s Black Veil" – Study Questions
1. What does Mr. Hooper do that makes the congregation uncomfortable? (Notice Hawthorne's descriptive writing!)
Mr. Hooper begins to wear a Black Veil over his face at all times. The congregation sees this, and automatically perceives the black veil as a negative entity. Mr. Hooper never takes off the veil, and thus the story spreads.
2. What are some of the reactions of the members of the congregation on the first Sunday?
The reactions of the members of the congregation on the first Sunday that Mr. Hooper began to wear the veil were entirely negative. Some saw it as a bad omen, others identify the veil as being an outward expression of something dark inside Mr. Hooper. There are some great examples of the reactions in the text to demonstrate the uproar of the congregation, “‘I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that piece of crape,’ said the sexton.
‘I don't like it,’ muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house. ‘He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.
‘Our parson has gone mad!’ cried Goodman Gray, following him across the threshold” (Hawthorne).
3. Does Hawthorne use direct or indirect characterization to describe Mr. Hooper? Use a quote from the text to …show more content…
Hooper’s preaching. He was able to reach more people, and convert more as well. “Among all its bad influences, the black veil had the one desirable effect, of making its wearer a very efficient clergyman. By the aid of his mysterious emblem--for there was no other apparent cause--he became a man of awful power over souls that were in agony for sin. His converts always regarded him with a dread peculiar to themselves, affirming, though but figuratively, that, before he brought them to celestial light, they had been with him behind the black veil. Its gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections”
1. What does Mr. Hooper do that makes the congregation uncomfortable? (Notice Hawthorne's descriptive writing!)
Mr. Hooper begins to wear a Black Veil over his face at all times. The congregation sees this, and automatically perceives the black veil as a negative entity. Mr. Hooper never takes off the veil, and thus the story spreads.
2. What are some of the reactions of the members of the congregation on the first Sunday?
The reactions of the members of the congregation on the first Sunday that Mr. Hooper began to wear the veil were entirely negative. Some saw it as a bad omen, others identify the veil as being an outward expression of something dark inside Mr. Hooper. There are some great examples of the reactions in the text to demonstrate the uproar of the congregation, “‘I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that piece of crape,’ said the sexton.
‘I don't like it,’ muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house. ‘He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.
‘Our parson has gone mad!’ cried Goodman Gray, following him across the threshold” (Hawthorne).
3. Does Hawthorne use direct or indirect characterization to describe Mr. Hooper? Use a quote from the text to …show more content…
Hooper’s preaching. He was able to reach more people, and convert more as well. “Among all its bad influences, the black veil had the one desirable effect, of making its wearer a very efficient clergyman. By the aid of his mysterious emblem--for there was no other apparent cause--he became a man of awful power over souls that were in agony for sin. His converts always regarded him with a dread peculiar to themselves, affirming, though but figuratively, that, before he brought them to celestial light, they had been with him behind the black veil. Its gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections”