1. The change of tone from the first paragraph to the remainder of the story is strikingly obvious. The first paragraph has a light and happy feel. The paragraph describes the scene of townspeople making their way to church. It is littered with words like “bright”, “merrily” and other words that imply a general state of happiness in the town. However, as the story goes on, words like these disappear, and are replaced with words like “gloomy” and “mysterious”. These words, and the situation of the town’s beloved pastor hiding his face with a black veil, completely changed the mood of the passage. The rest of the story’s tone was, simply put, dark. This is a sharp contrast to the tone of the first paragraph, which was nothing like the rest of the story
2. Hawthorne’s use of light/dark imagery for contrast is most evident in the way the first paragraph is written compared to the rest of the story. At first glance, it seems that the first paragraph is the only paragraph where light imagery should be used, since it seems that Hawthorne is trying to create a contrast. However, Hawthorne uses contrasting light/dark imagery throughout the entirety of the story. For example when the townspeople leave the church, “conscious of lighter spirits, the moment they lost sight of the black veil.” Hawthorne may have done this to make sure that the stark contrast felt from the first paragraph to the rest of the story isn’t forgotten as the reader continues with the story
3. Hawthorne uses inverted syntax order in the sentence “After a brief interval, forth came good Mr. Hooper…” This sentence comes after the end of the church service, where all the townspeople are discussing and trying to figure out what was going on with their pastor. The discussions that the people are having already create a sense of suspense in the reader, as they too want to know what is going on with Mr. Hooper. Inverting the order of the sentence adds to the confusion and suspense the reader feels.
4. When Mr. Hooper leans over the casket, his veil lifts a little. Mr. Hooper, who obviously doesn’t want anyone to see his face, should not have cared that his veil had done this, considering that the only person who could see his face because of this was the dead girl. However, Mr. Hooper pulls back the veil very quickly when this happens. This is a significant occurrence. It makes the reader question if the purpose of the veil really is to shield his face from people, since if this were the case, Mr. Hooper would not have cared about the dead body being exposed to his face
5. The juxtaposition of the wedding and the funeral continues with the running theme of light and dark in the story. Hawthorne may have put these two seemingly different events to show that light is very closely associated with dark. It can prove that one does not come without the other following closely behind. This can be a message of hope, as it can be perceived as nothing bad happens without something good happening, but it can also be perceived the opposite way; where even if it seems like everything is going great, darkness is soon to follow.
6. A reader can be sure that Hawthorne knew and understood the power of rhetoric for many reasons. It first becomes evident that Hawthorne knows what he is doing when the tone of the passage switches sharply from something light and happy to a brooding and gloomy tone. His word choice switches up, allowing the reader to easily see the contrast that Hawthorne intended to create. Hawthorne's knowledge of rhetoric can also be demonstrated by his use of irony. The fact that he uses a minister-someone who is supposed to be viewed as holy- as the character who wants to display their sins through a black veil.
7. The most critical argument that Hawthorne seems to present is that a person's actions cannot be classified as good, simply because they followed their own desires, or human nature. This is one of the main pillars of transcendentalism. On his deathbed, Mr. Hooper gives a chilling speech on how all the people in the town "wear black veils" and shield their eyes from God. to be continued.
8. Coming soon....
2. Hawthorne’s use of light/dark imagery for contrast is most evident in the way the first paragraph is written compared to the rest of the story. At first glance, it seems that the first paragraph is the only paragraph where light imagery should be used, since it seems that Hawthorne is trying to create a contrast. However, Hawthorne uses contrasting light/dark imagery throughout the entirety of the story. For example when the townspeople leave the church, “conscious of lighter spirits, the moment they lost sight of the black veil.” Hawthorne may have done this to make sure that the stark contrast felt from the first paragraph to the rest of the story isn’t forgotten as the reader continues with the story
3. Hawthorne uses inverted syntax order in the sentence “After a brief interval, forth came good Mr. Hooper…” This sentence comes after the end of the church service, where all the townspeople are discussing and trying to figure out what was going on with their pastor. The discussions that the people are having already create a sense of suspense in the reader, as they too want to know what is going on with Mr. Hooper. Inverting the order of the sentence adds to the confusion and suspense the reader feels.
4. When Mr. Hooper leans over the casket, his veil lifts a little. Mr. Hooper, who obviously doesn’t want anyone to see his face, should not have cared that his veil had done this, considering that the only person who could see his face because of this was the dead girl. However, Mr. Hooper pulls back the veil very quickly when this happens. This is a significant occurrence. It makes the reader question if the purpose of the veil really is to shield his face from people, since if this were the case, Mr. Hooper would not have cared about the dead body being exposed to his face
5. The juxtaposition of the wedding and the funeral continues with the running theme of light and dark in the story. Hawthorne may have put these two seemingly different events to show that light is very closely associated with dark. It can prove that one does not come without the other following closely behind. This can be a message of hope, as it can be perceived as nothing bad happens without something good happening, but it can also be perceived the opposite way; where even if it seems like everything is going great, darkness is soon to follow.
6. A reader can be sure that Hawthorne knew and understood the power of rhetoric for many reasons. It first becomes evident that Hawthorne knows what he is doing when the tone of the passage switches sharply from something light and happy to a brooding and gloomy tone. His word choice switches up, allowing the reader to easily see the contrast that Hawthorne intended to create. Hawthorne's knowledge of rhetoric can also be demonstrated by his use of irony. The fact that he uses a minister-someone who is supposed to be viewed as holy- as the character who wants to display their sins through a black veil.
7. The most critical argument that Hawthorne seems to present is that a person's actions cannot be classified as good, simply because they followed their own desires, or human nature. This is one of the main pillars of transcendentalism. On his deathbed, Mr. Hooper gives a chilling speech on how all the people in the town "wear black veils" and shield their eyes from God. to be continued.
8. Coming soon....