In “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Reverend Hooper, the Black Veil, and the community to reveal that Reverend Hopper’s alienation was based off of the communities moral values by how they viewed a person. In the beginning of begin in story everyone in Hooper’s community thought very highly of him, but that all changed when their view of him began to get nasty as he began to wear the black veil over his face. Hooper was treated like a stranger by the community after the people saw him with the veil over his face, slowly pushing him into an isolated life. The community played a large role in this short story by being the reason the main character went through most of his struggles in life. It was the harsh judgement and ridicule the community dished out that led to Hooper being pushed away from loved ones, being treated like a stranger in a town he was once loved in. Shown in Boone’s literary criticism, “As long as Hooper exposes himself through the veil, the community places all their accusations on him, and he bears the responsibility for the community. He is exiled. He is a scapegoat.” (Boone.) Boone showed that because Hooper would not tell anyone the reason he wore the veil over his face he had to face anything the community wanted to say about the reason …show more content…
His refusal to say why he wore the veil making him vulnerable to what they had to say about him. It would almost seem to one that Hooper was trying to use his life as a way to educate the people of his community with an important lesson; Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. “He protests he must display this symbol of evil to serve as a moral example: “What but thy mystery has made this piece of crape so awful? … on every visage a Black Veil! (Bunge.) Although Bunge helped make it known that Hooper was trying to educate people, it seems he was not very successful in whatever Hooper had in