The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne takes place in New England in the 18th-century. Mr. Hooper, who is the reverend in the Puritan town in New England, causes a stir amongst the community when he begins wearing a black veil everywhere he goes and exhibits unusual behavior and speech. This story reminds me of one that I read in high school called The Scarlett Letter. There is a theme and interpretation behind a certain object or person in both stories. The story never really tells the real reason behind the minister wearing the black veil, but it is definitely a point of interest while reading the story. Stories like these can be somewhat mysterious because it allows the reader to come up with their own ideas and brainstorming as …show more content…
By reading the text, you can tell that Reverend Hooper has done something that he awfully regrets and he is wearing this veil out of shame and to detach himself from society and people seeing him. I think he feels like he has let his God and the people of his congregation down and to make up for it, he should use this as a lesson and platform to preaching to his congregation. This is where irony can be picked up on in the story because the reverend is preaching a sermon to the congregation when he is battling his own demons and issues related to the sins he preaches about. The wearing of the black veil also makes me think about those who put on a poker face for people everyday and you never really know what they have going on in their life, good or bad. Many people are good at smiling everyday and pretending everything is okay when deep down they have personal issues or they are hiding secrets like the reverend did. Putting on a brave face for the public eye can be seen as wearing a veil if you want to use comparison with the two and think about it that way. It also goes along with the message that Mr. Hooper is trying to