Don’t people still accept you as being

Don’t people still accept you as being

Don’t Judge A Book By its Cover Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of “The Minister’s Black Veil” portrays many different themes about sin in his short story. One theme he portrayed was how people in the 1800’s are so judgmental when they experience change.

Hawthorne showed that when you keep your “black veils” hidden, people still accept you as being a part of the norm because they do not try to look past what is on the surface, but when you reveal your “black veils” and it’s something they dislike they put a label on you. Hawthorne used the veil to symbolize how people are so used to the norms of their everyday lives.Mr. Hooper had no real reason to wear the veil except to reveal how the simplest change can cause a whole town to become so judgmental in a short period of time.

Hawthorne used the veil to prove to the people in the town that they need to be less concerned about other people’s lives and more concerned with their own. The main reason for the veil was to teach people that they should not judge someone by what is on the outside, but what is inside. Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the theme of judgmental behavior in his short story “The Minister’s Black Veil”. In the “Minister’s Black Veil” Mr.Hooper, a minister in a small town decided one day that he was going to wear a black veil on his face. The black veil on Mr.

Hooper covered everything on his face except for his mouth. When Mr. Hooper decided to go out into town with his new attire on, it brought many negative reactions from his townspeople.

The people of his town and his own church community started to question if Mr. Hopper was even their same minister: “Are you sure it is our parson? ” inquired Goodman Gray of the sexton (44). Just because Mr. Hooper had changed his look his own people questioned his identity.Also after revealing his new appearance to his community they all began to judge him even though they did not know why he wore the black veil: “I don’t like it,” muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house (44).

“He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face (44). The townspeople believed that Mr. Hooper was such an awful being from just simply using a veil to hide his face. Mr. Hooper even had his sanity questioned by the townspeople due to the black veil. “Our parson has gone mad! ” (45). Along with all the judgment that Mr.

Hooper was receiving from wearing the black veil, the townspeople also started to treat him differently as well. After his sermon Mr. Hooper would always walk around and put his hands on the little children to bless them. Since he was wearing the veil the little children did not want Mr. Hooper to touch them: “Strange and bewildered looks repaid him for his courtesy” (46).

Even the little children took a part in the judgmental behavior towards their own minister. Mr. Hooper received judgmental behavior from his own clergyman in the church. The clergyman did not even invite Mr.Hooper to their table for him to bless the food which had been a ritual for many years (46). It is ridiculous how judgmental people can be that they would let something as small as a black veil ruin a tradition which they have been doing for years. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mr.

Hooper use the black veil to teach a very good lesson about judgmental behavior. Hawthorne and Hooper are trying to tell people that everybody has a “black veil” that they are hiding things behind. People do not notice it until it is revealed for everyone to see and they start to exclude you from being part of the norm.I did not like the fact that people were so use to their so called norms that they let something as small as a black veil change the way they thought and treated their own minister. The black veil did not change Mr. Hooper as a person he was still their same minister but society did not see that, all they saw was the black veil which was something they did not approve of.

Hawthorne and Hooper are trying to teach us that we should not be afraid of things that are out of the ordinary and we should look beyond the surface of things before we start to judge.