In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," elements of uncertainty, secrets, and sin are expressed through allegorical figures. Hawthorne explores the human psyche in one of its most raw coming to terms with peoples' most intimate fears.
             Humans have an innate fear of the unknown, and what they do not understand is often misconstrued as evil. Mr. Hooper, a respected reverend in a small town, pushes these emotions to the limit when he shows up to church one Sunday afternoon wearing a black cloth concealing his face. Automatically, questions are raised by the congregation about his motives for wearing "such a terrible thing." The people do not understand and assume that the minister must be hiding something. As Mr. Hooper goes on to preach about secretive sins and the mysteries that humans tried to hide from one another, and even their God, "each member of the congregation" from "the most innocent girl" to "the man of hardened breasts" begins to feel "as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought."
             Clearly, the community is not afraid of a piece of cloth, they are afraid of what the cloth represents. Mr. Hooper chooses to wear the veil to signify the sins and secrets that we try to hide from one another, as well as ourselves. By outing these things most desired to keep hidden away, the people become incredibly uneasy. No words or actions are needed because the veil's haunting presence is enough to force the community to look deep within themselves and face their own secrets. Every glance at the minister's gloomy veil is like a glimpse into one's heart that is darkened by secretive sin.
             Mr. Hooper himself soon becomes so troubled with his own image that "he never willingly passed before a mirror, nor stooped to drink at
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