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Examples Of Alienation In The Minister's Black Veil

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In a community of metaphoric veils only the veil seen by the public eye is known as obstructive or harmful. Throughout the story, Hooper was portrayed as a monster for publicly wearing the veil as a symbol of his sins. “To surrender or give up, or permit injury or disadvantage to, for the sake of something else” (Dictionary.com). “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Hooper sacrificed his love, his dignity, his own happiness, and his position in the community by wearing a veil, which led to his alienation. One of Hooper's greatest losses was his love and sympathy. “Have men avoided… my black veil” (Hawthorne 188). Hooper no longer has anyone to support him as he spreads his message and people wouldn't listen to him anymore …show more content…

People now looked at him oddly as he was seen as a crazy man and he soon lost his friends and families attention. He was very lonely and lost all happiness. “Do not leave...obscurity forever” (Hawthorne 311). The community would gather in groups and talk about Hooper behind his back, this alienated him. “Some gathered in...in the center” (Hawthorne 177). Many people of the community were afraid of Reverend Hooper and his black veil. “But from the...over his face” (Hawthorne 2-4). Although Hooper’s empirically observable behavior is uniformly kind and gentle, he remains unloved and dimly feared. Later on, the community realized that the veil was not a symbol of evil and decided the effects were not all that bad. “Having all it’s... efficient clergyman” (Hawthorne 185). This show how Hawthorne conveys Hoopers position in the community before and after wearing the veil. Throughout the “The Minister’s Black Veil” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses fiction to show how Mr. Hooper’s love, dignity, happiness, and position in the community was sacrificed. Even though the townspeople saw the veil as a symbol of wickedness and evil, Reverend Hooper used it to his advantage in spreading the word of God and the Puritan

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