The Minister's Black Veil was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story was published in 1836. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1806 in Salem, Massachusetts. He has an ancestor named John Hathorne, who was a judge in the Salem witch trials and never repented of his actions. Nathaniel changed his last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne to hide his connections. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. His works of fiction were considered part of black romanticism. Its themes often center on morality, sin and redemption (Clendenning). The Black Veil Minister is with Parson Hooper, the Reverend of Milford, arriving with a black veil covering his face. The townspeople begin to gossip, some say he has gone crazy, while the theme of this part of the story is dark romanticism. He shows another one towards the end of his story, which is sin. Puritanism is also present throughout his history, as it makes up a large part of Hawthorne's journey. Self-alienation is also shown, due to Parson Hooper wearing a black veil which causes people to ostracize him. Their entire attitude changes towards him, leading him to live his life alone. This brings us to the symbolism shown in the story. In the sentence "This piece of crepe, to their imagination, seemed to hang before his heart, symbol of a terrible secret between him and them", shows the symbolism of the black veil. This represents the sins of Parson Hooper. He wears the black veil to show that he has sins, and he doesn't hide them like everyone else in the town. That's why he thinks they're hypocrites, because everyone sins and they just don't show it. People speculate about why he wears the black veil. Eventually, people stopped talking to him and seeing him as a leader. At one point, Parson Hooper had friends, and now he's going to die alone. His lover, Elizabeth, leaves him because he refuses to remove the veil. The plot of the story is that Parson Hooper is trying to overcome the town gossip and make people accept him. However, his plan backfires and they reject him. "Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not of an energetic man: he strove to win his people to heaven, rather than to push them there," Hawthorne says. The sermon he gives with the black veil on his face is in the same style and manner as he gave the later sermons. However, this one was dark and Mr. Hooper had a dark temperament. The subject of this sermon was about sin. secret. When Mr. Hooper greeted people, they would return with strange, perplexed looks. I think Parson Hooper becomes weaker as he changes his appearance with a black veil. This also has a negative effect on. the community of Milford shows this near the end of the story: "Mr. Hooper smiled sadly at the pale faces of the crowd of the world as he passed by...”