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Character development essay examples
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“The Minister’s Black Veil” – Solitude of the Protagonist and the Author
Isn’t it more than coincidental that the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” and the author himself are both given to solitude and isolation?
Literary critics seem to come to a consensus on the subject of Hawthorne’s preference for solitude. Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in “Stories Derived from New England Living” state that “Hawthorne was essentially of a solitary nature, and group life was not for him. . .” (30) Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty and E. Hudson Long in “The Social Criticism of a Public Man” say that “a young man engrossed in historical study and in learning the writer’s craft is not notably queer if he does not seek society. . . .” (47) Stanley T. Williams in “Hawthorne’s Puritan Mind” states: “Soon after Hawthorne’s birth in 1804, circumstances intensified his innate Puritan characteristics: his analysis of the mind, his somber outlook on living, his tendency to withdraw from his fellows” (40). According to A.N. Kaul in his Introduction to Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, the themes of isolation and alienation were ones which Hawthorne was “deeply preoccupied with” in his writings (2).
At the outset of the tale, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” the sexton is tolling the church bell and simultaneously watching Mr. Hooper’s door, when suddenly he says, ``But what has good Parson Hooper got upon his face?'' The surprise which the sexton displayed is repeated in the astonishment of the onlookers: “With one accord they started, expressing more wonder. . .” The reason is this: “Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, so low as to be shaken by his breath” is a black veil. The 30 year old, unmarried parson receives a variety of reactions from his congregation:
``I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that piece of crape''
``He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face''
``Our parson has gone mad!''
Few could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door. . . .
. . . more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the
meeting-house.
Hawthorne, after exposing the surprised people to the sable veil, develops the protagonist through a description of some of his less exotic and curious characteristics:
There is no end to the ambiguity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”; this essay hopes to explore this problem within the tale.
How many readers have considered that the utter simplicity within the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” might be an expression or reflection of the utter poverty within the life of Hawthorne? It is the purpose of this essay to clarify this issue.
On July 4, 1804, an author by the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne was born (Meltzer). As Hawthorne grew, he began to develop a view of himself as “the obscurest man in American letters.” Through the use of popular themes such as isolation, guilt, and earthly imperfection, Hawthorne was able to involve much of his life and ancestral past in his work to answer his own political and religious wonders (“Nathaniel”). Hawthorne successfully “confronts reality rather than evading it” in many of his stories (Clendenning).
Lathrop, G. P., ed. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. Binghamton, New York: Vail-Ballou, 1962. 439-40. Print.
This is a subject and disorder near and dear to my heart. My personal experience with dyslexia, with myself and my daughter, has given me great insight into what dyslexia is, what the signs are, and how soon you can detect the potential for problems. It is not always the case that dyslexia is the sole source of reading and reading comprehension difficulties, there are other disorders that can exist at the same time, and this is important to know in order to help students improve their reading abilities. But, dyslexia will not only affect reading abilities and reading comprehension. It can affect writing, spelling, math, memory, listing comprehension, self-esteem, social skills, the ability to understand sarcasm, understanding spatial concepts,
Many of us can identify with struggling at least once during our school years. Imagine struggling every day and in every class just cause your learning strategy is not the same as everyone else. Dyslexia is a specific difficulty with learning how to read or write in nearly 3.5 million American children (Dyslexia Research Trust). This difficulty originates in children who are normally intelligent and receive adequate teaching; however, they are not able to process information as efficiently as regular learners. Dyslexia is an inherited condition, which children inherit from parents or family members. The condition results from abnormal nerve cells usually inherited which make children vulnerable to immune factors affecting brain development and causing deficiency of Omega-3. Dyslexia begins to become a problem when children are learning to read and write but, many children show signs of dyslexia before learning to read Dyslexics have problems concentrating in the classroom, pronouncing words properly and visualizing words. Many individuals often identify dyslexic people as people who...
... their engagement because Hooper would not show his face. The idea that she would never be able to look upon her husban and make a connection with him was too much for her to handle and she let him go. Mr. Hooper went to the grave with his veil. At his death bed when asked to remove his veil he refused and was angered by the thought of others curiosity. He wanted the community to know and made it apparent that his veil was physical but their veil was still worn. He claimed to be able to see their black veil even though no one but himself wore one. His sin on his face was a message to the world that he was accepting responsibility and the consequences of his decisions. He suffered for this. He was ridiculed and mocked. Even though this happened he held true to his commitment. His veil did not leave his face even after death. Parson Hooper wore his guilt to his grave.
There are various symptoms that help identify dyslexia; such as poor reading and spelling abilities, switching the directions of letters in words, and problems building short-term memory (Thomson, 2009). There are many other sym...
Dyslexia is one of several distinct learning disabilities. It is a specific language based disorder of constitutional origin characterized by difficulties in single word decoding, usually reflecting insufficient phonological processing abilities. These difficulties in single word decoding are often unexpected in relation to age and other cognitive and academic abilities; they are not the result of generalized developmental disability or sensory impairment. Dyslexia is manifest by ...
After watching the documentary, “The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia”, I was able to understand the real meaning of it. Dyslexia is a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence. It is very interesting how this people know that there is something wrong in their learning process but doctors are not able to identified right away. I was also impressed with how some people could live with dyslexia for various years and not noticing it. Some of them were identified earlier but others didn’t know they have it until the age of 23. The worst part of dyslexia is that it last for ever.
... writer who includes many similar elements in his works. These elements of writing which can be found in so many of his stories come together to make a style which cannot and most likely will not ever be seen in the works of anyone besides Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne distinguishes himself through the use of descriptive sentences which include complex vocabulary and contain a formal tone, the incorporation of a dark/gothic tone, also using characters who fall under scrutiny and alienation, and also the use of autobiographical elements. These are just five of the many connections which can be made between the three stories which were discussed in this paper. Also, although there were only three stories which were analyzed it is more than likely that if one read any of the other stories which Hawthorne wrote in his day than the same findings would be made.
According to A.N. Kaul in his Introduction to Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, the themes of isolation and alienation were ones which Hawthorne was “deeply preoccupied with” in his writings (2). Hawthorne’s personal isolation from people from 1825 to 1837 was probably due to his lifelong shyness among people. This reluctance to freely socialize may have been a result of a foot injury: “an injury to his foot at the age of nine reduced his physical activity for almost two years” (Martin 16). Wagenknecht says in Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances that this accident “reduced him for over two years to a state of invalidism that probably contributed toward developing his taste for reading” (2). Or Nathaniel Hawthorne’s shyness was perhaps due to the death of his father when he was but four years old. Regarding the impact of this death upon Hawthorne, Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in “Stories Derived from New England Living,” say:
Have you ever slipped up and said a word completely backwards? Or read the balance in your checkbook with the last number at the beginning? Imagine living every day, struggling to read what you have in front of you. That is what it is like for an individual with dyslexia. A dyslexic individual experience troubles with reading and writing, in which includes letters and numbers. Dyslexia is the impairment in learning to read and write, and is one of the most common learning disabilities among children (Kolb & Whishaw, 2014). Dyslexia affects approximately ten percent of the population (Habib, 200). Therefore dyslexia is coming more and more recognizable than in the past. Dyslexia was first thought of as a vision problem, but as doctors began to notice that there was nothing wrong with children's vision, they began looking at the brain (Kolb & Whishaw, 2014). Doctors began looking at the brains of dyslexic individuals po...
From the beginning of the story, Mr. Hooper comes out wearing a black veil, which represents sins that he cannot tell to anyone. Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, Mr. Hooper has on a black veil. Elizabeth urged, “Beloved and respected as you are, there may be whispers that you hid your face under the consciousness of secret sin” (Hawthorne 269). His fiancé says that in the black veil there may be has a consciousness of secret sin. Also, he is a parson in Milford meeting-house and a gentlemanly person, so without the veil, Hooper would be a just typical minister, “guilty of the typical sins of every human, but holier than most” (Boone par.7). He would be a typical minister who is guilty of the typical sins of every human without the black veil. Also, Boone said, “If he confesses his sin, the community can occur” (Boone par.16). If he confesses his sin about the black veil, all of the neighbors will hate him. Last, he said, “so, the veil is a saying: it is constantly signifying, constantly speaking to the people of the possibility of Hooper’s sin” (Boone par.11). Mr. Hooper’s veil says that he is trying to not tell the sins about the black veil. In conclusion, every people have sins that cannot tell to anyone like Mr. Hooper.
There’s no way to know if you’re going to be affected by dyslexia. You just have to monitor the symptoms. Dyslexia is not gender related and the age when people are diagnosed also varies. After their diagnosis, many young people and their parents tend to act in a variety of different ways. Young children feel nervous about what the future might bring for them. Some may have the constant fear that they have this seemingly uncontrollable disease and there will be nothing to help them. Some may also have the feeling of anger and wonder why they got this disorder whenever no one else has it. Parents on the other hand may feel guilty and wonder if they did something wrong during their childhood. They may constantly think that it’s their fault that their child is dyslexic. Parents tend to find themselves wondering what dyslexia really means and what effect it will have on the future of their child and their family (Moragne 38). A lot of parents think that their child can outgrow dyslexia but in reality they can’t. They'll have to cope with it throughout their entire life. Children may go their entire life without knowing they have dyslexia because of their parents, it’s usually their fear and pride that keeps them from seeking