Christopher Mooney 9/21/2014 Study of Literature Prof. West Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil is a story about a minister who gains attention from his entire town due to his choice to suddenly don a black veil. Throughout the story we see the villagers frequently discussing the minister, Mr. Hooper, and his veil -- asking questions, making assumptions, and spreading rumors about him because of the black veil. Through the way the villagers treat Mr. Hooper throughout the story, the reader gets an interesting view on not only how people view the unknown, but also how people have an urge to place symbols onto everything and anything in order to fill an empty 'presence'. Mr. Hooper's veil becomes a focal point for all of the villagers as they project their own ideas on what the veil could mean and what it could symbolize -- the uncertainty of what the veil could mean prompts the …show more content…
Hooper's veil, there is also the way that The Minister's Black Veil is written which correlates very nicely with both Saussure and Derrida's ideas. The piece is written in such a way that not only does it show the villagers trying to place a meaning to the veil, but it also gets the reader to do the same thing. It makes the reader assume that there will be a meaning to the ambiguous veil because there simply should be, and the story ends without any explanation of why the minister is wearing the veil -- the closest thing being what he tells Elizabeth, "...this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever..." (Hawthorne 194); a quote which explains nothing and only really shows self-awareness to the fact that the veil's meaning is ambiguous and always will be, even if it is a symbol like Mr. Hooper