One of the themes in “The Minister's Black Veil”, readers is likely to recognize the reaction of the townspeople to change, especially when a change is associated with their religion or religious figures. This is clearly not an accepting community and it is worth thinking critically about the way the whole community comes together to shun him. The veil makes the Reverend look dark and gloomy and instantly, even before one day is through the people in town are witnessing supernatural events. It seems there is something to be said about the group mentality of Puritans and their quick tendencies toward superstition. Elizabeth is the only exception
“There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!” (pg 30) Parris tried to defend himself with such passionate and heartfelt comments but Proctor would have none of it. To him Parris was not in his society. Also, his relationship with Abigail Williams was a strained one, plagued with affair, scandal, and betrayal. He did love her, but soon after seeing what she truly was he resented his connection to her and, like what his old true nature told him, he confessed, causing a resent to appear within the town that never gave him his old trust
He obviously was never close to her, due to his lack of wanting to visit her. He describes visiting her as a strenuous task. She is almost like a random person in his mind. The rest home director describes Meursault behavior the day of the funeral, “… I hadn’t wanted to see Maman, that I hadn’t cried once, and that left right after the funeral without paying my last respect at her grave”(89). A man who loved his mother would have cried a little bit at her funeral.
The first and the most obvious ambiguity of the story is the fact that Mr. Hooper, a well liked and well known man of God, has chosen to wear a veil. A veil is a customary article of clothing worn by women. Strange and shocking, it is clear that the minister is trying to put up a blockade between him and something else. With everyone in his congregation befuddled and stirred up at the first couple of sightings of a minister wearing a veil, no questions are asked and rather multiple assumptions are made by the townspeople. With so much talk and confusion being drawn towards this article of clothing, Hawthorne is able to add to the intensity of the reasoning of the veil.
Mr. Hooper, the minister in The Black Veil is a man of secret sin and darkness. Hooper could represent secret sin within his heart or specific sin which could be adultery. The congregation of the church was surprised to see the minister with the black veil on that covered his face. Though they never saw the minister’s actions change, the way people reacted to him did, even his love Elizabeth’s actions. People were afraid and intimidated by the veil that the minister wore and believed it hid some secret sin and reminded them of their own transgressions, which should never happen with the minister.
The Outsider: Theme When one does not follow society’s expectations, he or she can be judged negatively by others is a theme in The Outsider. In the novel, Meursault is judged by society because of his response to circumstances around him. Meursault is sentenced to death because society cannot accept his behaviour and his actions. His detachment from the outside world and his actions were what caused Meursault’s execution. Meursault’s detached personality is first shown when he showed no emotion at his mother’s funeral and how he did not know his mother’s age: “I [Meursault] hadn’t wanted to see mother, hadn’t cried once and I’d left straight after the funeral without paying my respects at her grave.” (86).
It is required to access such divinity. Thence, Brown in Young Goodman Brown cannot have access to divinity because although he once had it for his people and wife he decides to lose faith in trusting them after he finds himself standing alone in the forest. The evil Triumphed over the good. As evil defeated good, Brown had nothing to live for because there was nothing good coming so basically was stuck just living worrying of everyone around him. This is why he said: "And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave...they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom."
Having never met his parents, the only interpretation of his father is from the shape of the letters on his tomb stone, sad really. ‘My first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones’ this is pip talking as an older person, he is stating how foolish he was. The fact that pip sat that it ‘gave me an odd idea’ suggests to me that in the back of his mind he knew he wasn’t quite right, but I suppose that knowing his parents were dead from such a young age could have great impact on his personality and his morals. This is because he had no substantial mother father figure to teach him wrong from right. Paragraph two in chapter one starts explaining where
Godfrey suffers from his own internal guilt of the secrets that he keeps from his wife, Nancy. The Loneliness found in the book consists of many internal and external conflicts of the characters found in the book. There are many different forms of loneliness in George Elliot’s Silas Marner. Silas first experiences loneliness when he is betrayed by his best friend, William Dane. Later on, Silas even believes that god has betrayed him as well and believes that there is no righteous god.
He is unable to take the "responsibility" of caring for his holy father God, he is "tormented" and constantly "[aching]" of his shame. When he denies to pray for the soul of the dead baby, he feels guilty and goes back looking for the mother. He thinks he is inadequate to continue with his search, he finds the tomb of the baby and a cube of sugar laying above the tombstone. The priest is now left "abandon" and with "despair", he is now waiting for a "miracle" to save him. He is now being tentative because he does not know if he should eat the sugar cube, but his loathsome side ended up taking over, and he eats the sugar cube.