Journal for Hawthorne

Gregory Alcala
English 48A
Journal for Hawthorne
October 5th, 2009

Quote:
“When Mr. Hooper came, the first thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible veil, which had added a deeper gloom to the funeral…” -quoted from The Norton Anthology: American Literature, 7th Edition Vol. B
Summary:
Hawthorne keep the image of the veiled faced minister in the forefront. He reminded the reader of the weight that the simple piece of black cloth that only covered Mr. Hooper’s face changed his character completely. The town that once so him as the leader of his flock of worshipers now treated him as a pariah. Even though it pained Mr. Hooper to see this drastic change in the way the town’s people reacted to his visage he did not remove the veil. Even when Elizabeth plead with him to hold the veil aside only once. It was a self appointed penance that Mr. Hooper had placed upon himself. Through his strong character he never removed the veil and to remove all doubt that anyone saw his face Hawthorne wrote that even ‘the lawless wind’ did not swipe the veil aside even once.

Quote:
“I am always so dazzled and bewildered with the richness, the depth, the ... jewels of beauty in his productions that I am always looking forward to a second reading where I can ponder and muse and fully take in the miraculous wealth of thoughts.” -quoted from the Journal of Sophia Hawthorne [Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s wife], January, 14th, 1951. Berg Collection NY Public Library
Summary:
This quote is from the private journal of Sophia, Nathaniel’s wife, but it is not spoken with spousal pride. Most of his writings was greatly appreciated with some less acclaimed work, like most writers. Sophia counted herself among his other fans. The work of The Minister’s Black Veil did take me a couple reads before I could under the meaning of the veil. Sophia must have done the same thing as I did before she could see the lesson Mr. Hooper declared before the people surrounding his deathbed.

Response:
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s verbiage is profound yet does not drive me back. It did take me a couple complete reads of the story before I could understand the choice of words. Hawthorne was friends with Melville at one time, and like Melville, Hawthorne drive from real life to help inspire him for the story of The Minister’s Black Veil. Great artists often inspire each other. Nathaniel Hawthorne is quoted to saying “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” The style of writing Hawthorne did for this piece of literature is now seen as a classical part of American history.