Describe Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”.

In his final speech, Hooper asks (rhetorically), “Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies [i.e., symbolizes], has made this piece of crape so awful? […] I look around me, and lo! On every visage a black veil!” Hooper seems to mean that people have been bothered by his veil, not because it makes him look scary, but because it reminds them of something they would rather forget—namely, that they all are trying to hide bad things about themselves, from themselves, from one another, and from God. So, in a sense, Hooper at the end gets to judge the members of his church for their motives and behavior, and it is not an approving judgment. What about your judgment? Some readers argue that we are supposed to agree with Hooper; that the story, in other words, is a “parable” about how people in groups (like Hooper’s congregation) tend to be narrow-minded, hypocritical, intolerant of non-conformity. Other readers think that the story is actually much more critical of Rev. Hooper himself, since his wearing of the veil does not achieve what he seems to think it should, and since by wearing it he’s made himself miserable. Thus the story is a parable about how personal idealism can go too far. What do you think? Be sure to cite and explain the best evidence from the story in support of your claim. Book: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter 9th Edition, Volume 1, Beginnings to 1865 (Robert S. Levine, General Editor).