Analysis Of Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Salem Gazette

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist who was born on July, 4 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne had once said about his childhood that â€Å"he had felt he had been born into a world of gloom and decay† (Bloom 11). Hawthorne read books of classical literature in his childhood which included â€Å"The Fairy Queen† and the â€Å"Pilgrims Progress†, Shakespearean Works and Gothic Romances. His love for literature followed him to his college years, where he attended Bowdoin College and joined the Athenean Literary Society and began to write a couple of his short stories. After he graduated in 1825, he returned to Salem to his mother’s house and spent more than ten years to perfect his craft of writing. During that time of solitude he generated†¦show more content†¦Mr. Hooper is the Reverend of the Milford Church. One Sunday as the town’s people head to church they see Mr. Hooper with a black veil covering his face. The town’ s people unable to comprehend on the veil go to church to hear the sermon. When the sermon ends the town’s people start gossiping and make theories on why the Minister wears the veil. As time goes on the town’s people get uncomfortable and start to separate themselves from Mr. Hooper. On a last attempt, Mr. Hooper fiancà ©, Elizabeth tries to convince him to no prevail to take veil off and she ends up leaving him. Years pass and Mr. Hooper becomes the recluse of Milford and a legend amongst others who come to look upon the veil. As his death approaches, the Minister of Westbury approaches his deathbed and tries to remove the veil from the Minister face. But with an surge of energy Mr. Hooper seizes his veils and hold it against his face and rebukes the people for not owning up to their sins and with his final breath condemns them all with black veils. The themes in â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† are appearance, sins and guilt. Appearance is one of the themes due to how the town’s people shun Mr. Hooper due to veil on his face. When Mr. Hooper comes to church the town’s people immediately take notice of his changed appearance. One of the churchgoers call him â€Å"awful† because of the veil covering his features (Hawthorne 1). Due to his new appearance the