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What Does The Young Goodman Brown Symbolize

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Hawthorne’s symbolism Hawthorne uses great symbolism in both “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Ministers Black Veil”. I am going to point out all the excellent uses of symbolism. “The Young Goodman Brown” has symbolism throughout the story. Take the pink ribbon for instance. The pink ribbons represents pureness and overall goodness. “Then god bless you faith said with the pink ribbons”.(Hawthorne 398) Faith is kinda of a symbol of goodness herself so it makes the ribbons a symbol of being good and pure. There is another great use of symbolism and its the staff. The staff represents the evil in the traveler who carried it. Also it represents the devil or the darkness of the meeting. “But the only thing about him that could be fixed upon as remarkable …show more content…

It is the fact that everyone has a secret or something they would like to hide. Everyone has their own black veil. (Enotes.com) The story is all about how when he was a young boy he accidentally killed his friend. He wants to hide his face from and keep his secret covered up. Another use of symbolism that is used throughout the whole story is that everyone is so caught up in why he is wearing the black veil that no one ever gets the point of it. They just choose to ignore it and wear the “Invisible veil” that everyone has.(K-state.edu) He might also wear the black veil to state that he doesn't believe in redemption of sin or being able to get past your mistakes. He believes that they are always with you.(K-state.edu) In the story hooper says “If i cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same” meaning that if he covers it up then other people will do the same. (Hawthorne 412) The veil is also a symbol of life and death only in death can the veil be removed. (Hillsdalesschools.org) Hawthorne is one of the greatest authors at using symbolism. He puts things in his stories that go way deeper than words. The way he describes the darkness of the forest and staff in the “Young Goodman Brown” to the way he explains how everyone has a “veil” in “The Minister's Black Veil” Its all great uses of

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The Minister’s Black Veil: “What Lies Beyond A Veil” “The Minister’s Black Veil” is a parable about a mysterious minister named Mr. Hooper, who, from one day to another, began wearing a black veil. He wouldn’t take it off no matter the reason. The people from church reacted negatively to this mysterious black veil. They didn’t like it.

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In paragraph fifty-seven, the minister states on his deathbed, “. . . when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! On every visage a Black Veil!” Here he is clarifying that the veil has been a symbol representing sin; the sin we try to hide from those around us.

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Throughout it all, there is this mysterious feeling created by the black veil and this is a great way for Hawthorne to bring symbolism into the story. Even though there are other ways to create a feeling without directly coming

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What Is The Reason In The Minister's Black Veil

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In "The Ministers Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne "The reason that it is difficult for the congregation and even his fiancée to look upon him is that they only see the veil. " The minister is hiding his face because he is afraid that what he is hiding will show to the people of the church and his fiancée. Mr. Hooper is wearing the veil because he committed a sin; and is hiding it from the town and his church First of all, Mr. Hooper is hiding behind the veil to ensconce his sins is because it is bigger than all the other sins everyone else has admitted. The article said that it could be him hiding a inclination he is having for a female.

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” begins on a Sunday morning “Sabbath-day” before church in the small town of Milford MA. The sexton rings the bell calling all the parishioners forward for church. The church begins to fill as any normal Sunday although this turns out to be anything but an ordinary day. When it becomes time to go before the congregation Reverend Mr. Hooper walks into church. The sexton and the entire congregation is stunned because today Reverend Hooper enters the church with a black veil covering his face.

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467 Words | 2 Pages

Hawthorne says, “Something fluttered lightly down through the air and caught on the branch of a tree” Faith’s pink ribbons symbolize purity. In the beginning of the story was Faith had her ribbons she was pure but at the end of the story when Young Goodman Brown saw Faith’s pink ribbon come down from the sky it represents how she succumed to evil and Hawthorne lost both his faith and his wife Faith. The third example of how Hawthorne uses symbolism to show the theme good versus evil in the story “Young Goodman Brown” is when the devil is telling Brown and Faith that they will have a new perspective of life, a life where everyone sins. In the beginning of the story Young Goodman Brown saw his family as godly and he saw Faith as pure but the devil shows him that his views are naive and the devil gives him the capability to see the dark side of everything and everyone.

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In the “Minister’s Black Veil”, Hawthorne displays Hooper and the symbol of the veil as a representation of how judgmental society can become when faced with situations they don’t understand even though they have no right to judge. The “Minister’s Black Veil” was written as a parable in order to teach us a moral lesson stating that you should never judge someone. In Paul J. Emmett’s literary criticism he tells of a point in the story when Hooper explains his reasoning for wearing the veil, Emmett says, “After exhausting life in his efforts for mankind’s spiritual good, he had made the manner of his death a parable, in order to impress on his admirers the mighty and mournful lesson, that, in the view of infinite purity, we

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Instantly, it can be interpreted that the veil symbolizes how sins are able to take an individual’s purity away. The idea that the veil provides a, “gloomy”, vision suggests that sins are able to cloud or impair a person’s vision

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In this essay characteristics that are shown are twisted and grotesque. They have mystical vibes. like on page 2 paragraph 2 she explains how he walks into the room. " Mr. Hopper walked onwards , at a slow and quiet pace, stooping somewhat, and looking on the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet nodding kindly to those of his parishioners who still waited on the meeting-house steps. But so wonder-struck were that his greeting hardly met with a return."

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Furthermore, when Mr. Hooper says this to his fiance it gives a perfect example of how many people began distancing themselves from Mr. Hooper, along with people judging him as well even though everyone has their own sin to hide. As a result, this would bring me to the next theme which is sin. The theme of sin in this story plays a big role. One reason is Mr. Hooper wearing the black veil and confessing that he has a secret sin. Additionally, sin is a theme in this story because by Mr. Hooper having a secret sin it demonstrates how each of us carries a symbolic veil, meaning that everyone has a secret sin that they have never shared with anyone.

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The black veil made the people think the Mr. Hooper was changing and wasn’t being a normal minister. The black veil is simply there for Hooper so he can see a different view on the world. He sees black faces showing that people sin, his sees that everyone there is equal, and he sees the behaviors of the people revealing their personalities that he can learn from. Hawthorne is showing the reader Hooper wants to make a town that is free from sin and make things simple for them. He wants their faith to be stronger and become better

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1130 Words | 5 Pages

The color is a point for discussion “Neither scarlet nor white, but of a hue somewhere between, the ribbons suggest neither total depravity nor innocence, but a psychological state somewhere between. Tied like a label to the head of Faith, they represent the tainted innocence, the spiritual imperfection of all mankind” (Ferguson). Another object that is noted in the story is the serpentine staff that the traveler carried. Snakes are symbolic for being evil, sneaky, and representatives of the devil. It also is explained that “the staff of Brown’s companion is being linked with the opponents of Moses and of the God of Israel. . . .

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Nathanial Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown is a story about a man who sets off on a journey into the woods. Through the journey, he questiones his own beliefs and encounters with lots of strange things which ends up in losing his virtue and faith at all. The journey turns into a self-discovery rather than just going for a walk. In the story, he says farewell to his wife Faith ,when leaving his house . She does not want her husband to leave but she has to say goodbye in hesitation.

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Secondly, Faith’s pink bow is symbolic because the color pink is generally associated with innocence or purity. At the beginning of the story, Hawthorne mentions Faith’s ribbon multiple time expressing the fact that Faith is youthful and happy. Later, he reintroduces Faith’s ribbons when Young Goodman Brown is in the forest struggling with his doubts about the

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1218 Words | 5 Pages

The idea of secret sin in a perfectly religious society comes up again and again throughout the story. The black veil was thought to cover the minister's secret sins but, on his deathbed, he revealed that everybody should be wearing a black veil because everyone has a secret sin or sorrow that is hidden from all others. Hence, one of the major themes of the minister's black veil is that of secret sin and how many people neglect to admit that they have secret sins but instead, blame and judge others. Mr. Hooper intently decided to wear a veil daily to represent sin, but he never revealed the reason behind wearing it, this is left for the reader to decipher. Now the Black Veil itself can symbolize many different things according to the opinion of the reader.

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