Examples Of Anti Transcendentalism In The Minister's Black Veil

In The Minister’s Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells a story about Reverend Hooper, he lives in a small town in New England, called Milford. One Sabbath morning, Reverend Hooper chooses to give a sermon while wearing a black veil. Rumors instantly started to go around among his Puritan audience about reasons for him for wearing the veil. The story is developed around a specific symbol which, in this case, was the black veil that the Reverend wears to cover his face from the world. The Minister's Black Veil shows the mindset that Puritans had toward human nature in a way that shows it is loaded with pessimism. He saw the worst in human nature and chose to believe that the worst will happen, he had a lack of hope or confidence in human

He was one of the leaders of the Anti-Transcendentalism movement, a movement that dared to go against the typical belief at the time. Hawthorne stood up, as opposition to what he felt was an unreal mindset. Anti-transcendentalism rose up to point out the flaws in Transcendentalism. To the Anti-Transcendentalist, a man was capable of evil and nature was destructive and indifferent. Anti-Transcendentalists, same as Transcendentalists, have crucial aspects that are commonly agreed on, such as, man is born with the stain of the original sin, man is the most destructive force in nature, one can only find God through good works and life experience. Anti-Transcendentalists, like Hawthorne, believed man will naturally choose wrong over right if given the choice between the two. Anti-Transcendentalists argue that man destroys while attempting to create, thus repeating man's natural creed to destroy. Anti-Transcendentalists believed that the truth about these matters would be terrifying and disturbing. They also believed that everything has a good or evil side