The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Feature Menu
Introducing the Story Literary Focus
Symbol Reading Skills Drawing Inferences
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The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Sermon by Julius Gari Melchers
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The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
There is the fear that we shant prove worthy in
the eyes of someone who knows us at least as well
as we know ourselves. . . . Robert Frost
(18741963)
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The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Mr. Hooper, a young Puritan clergyman, shocks his
congregation by appearing at the church one
Sunday in a black veil.

• Why, the people wonder fearfully, is their
  minister hiding his face?

• Is the veil related to the topic of Mr. Hoopers
  sermonsecret sin?

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The Minister's Black Veil Literary Focus Symbol
A symbol is something that

• has meaning in itself

• also stands for something beyond itself

love
passage of time
peace
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The Minister's Black Veil Literary Focus Symbol
Hawthornes central symbol in this story is a
black veil.
Notice how Hawthornes descriptions of the veil
suggest its symbolic importance.
horrible
gloomy shade
mysterious emblem
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The Minister's Black Veil Reading Skills
Drawing Inferences
When you read a story, you make inferences about
characters and events.
An inference is an educated guess based on

• clues in the text

• your own knowledge and experience

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The Minister's Black Veil Reading Skills
Drawing Inferences
Watch for this line
Our parson has gone mad! cried Goodman Gray. .
. . from The Ministers Black Veil by Nathaniel
Hawthorne
At that point in the story, write down three
inferences you could make to explain

• why the minister has covered his face

• why he has chosen black crape, the material
  traditionally used by mourners

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The Minister's Black Veil Background
Like much of Hawthornes best work, this story is
set in the time of his Puritan ancestors, an era
he said was noted for its gloom and piety.
According to Hawthorne, the black veilalthough
not its meaning in the storyis based on the
eccentricity of a real person.

• A New England clergyman named Mr. Joseph Moody
  accidentally killed a beloved friend.

• From that day until his death, he hid his face
  from other people.

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The Minister's Black Veil Background
Hawthornes subtitle, A Parable, indicates the
importance of the storys moral theme.
A parable is a short, usually simple story

• based on events from ordinary life

• containing a moral lesson

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The Minister's Black Veil Background
Famous Parables
One of the most famous parables is that of the
Good Samaritan, who stops and helps a stranger
who has been robbed and beaten. Today we still
call caring strangers good Samaritans.
The Good Samaritan by Vincent van Gogh, after
Delacroix
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Vocabulary
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The Minister's Black Veil Vocabulary
Previewing the Vocabulary semblance n. outward
appearance. obscurity n. darkness. iniquity n.
wickedness. ostentatious adj. deliberately
attracting notice. sagacious adj. wise keenly
perceptive. portend v. signify. pensively adv.
thinking deeply or seriously.
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The Minister's Black Veil Vocabulary
Previewing the Vocabulary antipathy n. strong
dislike. plausibility n. believability. resolute
adj. determined.
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The Minister's Black Veil Vocabulary
Vocabulary Activity Match each word with its
Greek or Latin origin.
L pensare, to weigh or consider
portend
pensively
L plaudere, deserving applause
L portendere, foretell
antipathy
Gr anti-, against patheia, feeling
plausibility
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Meet the Writer
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The Minister's Black Veil Meet the Writer
Although he struggled both creatively and
financially, Nathaniel Hawthorne (18041864)
earned recognition as a writer and the admiration
of his contemporaries. Yet his dark insights into
the human heart seemed to reflect an inner gloom
that he never overcame.
More About the Writer
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