In the story, “The Minister’s Black Veil” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the townspeople demonstrates how important appearance seems to be in a small town. The main character in the story, Reverend Hooper is the town’s minister. On a normal Sunday morning, Mr. Hooper appears at church to deliver his sermon with a black veil covering his face. He is trying to prove to the people that everyone lives with secret sin. The townspeople are completely blind of the significant symbolism of the black veil. With no idea why the minister is wearing the veil, the townspeople begin to belittle him. The townspeople are judgmental towards Mr. Hooper because they are guided by curiosity and fear rather than kindness. The townspeople gossip about his “secret sin” as if it is greater than their own. An old town’s woman states, “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (Hawthorne 390). The people quickly shun him only because of a simple black veil. The townspeople never once consider the symbolic importance, instead they gossip and spread
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Hooper’s appearance accurately determines how inconsiderate and unfaithful they truly are. The people automatically assume that Mr. Hooper commits an awful or sorrow sin. They immediately undertake that he is trying to hide from God, the veil is a signal of the sin he commits. The narrator states, “A few shook their sagacious heads imitating that they could penetrate the mystery” (Hawthorne 391). The townspeople are very nosy and are willing to figure the sin their minister is committing. The appearance of the minister seems to be more important to the townspeople than the sermon he is preaching on a Sunday morning. “Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meeting-house” (Hawthorne 390). The people are disturbed and distracted by the black veil that they could not sit in the same room as Mr.
Hooper’s appearance accurately determines how inconsiderate and unfaithful they truly are. The people automatically assume that Mr. Hooper commits an awful or sorrow sin. They immediately undertake that he is trying to hide from God, the veil is a signal of the sin he commits. The narrator states, “A few shook their sagacious heads imitating that they could penetrate the mystery” (Hawthorne 391). The townspeople are very nosy and are willing to figure the sin their minister is committing. The appearance of the minister seems to be more important to the townspeople than the sermon he is preaching on a Sunday morning. “Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meeting-house” (Hawthorne 390). The people are disturbed and distracted by the black veil that they could not sit in the same room as Mr.