Mr Hooper Sacrifice

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Near the end of the short story, Mr. Hooper's determination to become separated from the sinfulness of the world causes him to make several sacrifices that isolate him from his community. He makes these sacrifices because he wants his congregation to know that all humans have secret sins that they cannot easily hide from or ignore. When Mr. Hooper says, "This dismal shade must separate me from the world: even you, Elizabeth, can never come behind it," Hawthorne suggests that hidden sins may force people to let go of who or what they love the most (250). When Mr. Hooper recognizes that Elizabeth, the only character who loves him for who he truly is, only cares about discovering the mystery of the veil "for the sake of his holy office," he realizes …show more content…
Hooper has to become physically and mentally isolated from the world to reveal his message about secret sins, Hawthorne suggests that sinful people in the world distract others from being able to recognize and confess their darkest sins. Since Mr. Hooper surrounds himself with Puritans who do not share his similar beliefs about secret sins, he becomes irrelevant to his congregation and is unable to experience any worldly pleasures with them because of the barriers that the concept of hidden sins forms between him and them. At the end of Mr. Hooper's life, Hawthorne notes that his black veil separates him from "cheerful brotherhood" and "woman's love" and locks him away in "the saddest of all prisons" because he is the only member of his congregation who is humble enough to confess his hidden sins (252). If the townspeople were not so preoccupied with protecting their outward appearances, they could have used Mr. Hooper's sermon as an opportunity to improve their inward appearances and could have grown closer to him by realizing that they, too, wore a black veil. Since Mr. Hooper desires to make his congregation aware of their need to confess their sins, he chooses to make several sacrifices that seclude himself from them and causes him to lose their trust, loyalty, and
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