Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Gothic Fishbowl #3: "The Minister's Black Veil"


Hello, outer circle!


Remember that you want to be participating consistently from the beginning of the discussion through the very end. As always, keep bringing in passages as often as you can.


And, of course, try to get yourself into a hot seat (even if it's only for a moment).


Enjoy!

62 comments:

  1. Does the black veil show or hide his sin???

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  2. I think that he scares himself by seeing himself in the mirror because the veil was a constant reminder of his past sins that he wore on his face. The thought that he could sin scared him, and as such, seeing his reflection was very scary.

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  3. to willie-
    I think that the veil shows his sin even though he trys to hide it.

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  4. Willie, I think the veil can represent a little bit of both, just like our masks, we have a sade to show who we are, and a side that keeps our secrets in and concealed.

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  5. Willie: I think the black veil shows his sin because he is always hiding behind it and if he wasnt guilty of sin he wouldnt hide behind it

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  6. Willie, I think that the veil represents the sins that we hide our faces from and how we hide our faces from the our real desires and that it is meant to hide our dark secrets.

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  7. I think the the veil is black because it has no color to it, no depth. It is nothing. So is the minister

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  8. I also thought it was intresting how when he looked in the mirror and he scared himself by the veil on his face. I also think that Mr. Hooper is a real person because of the way the other people would talk about him.

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  9. Willie i think it does both. it hides his sin behind the veil but everyone knows he has sinned because he wears it.

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  10. Willie

    It does both. it hides the person who sinned, yet it showed his sin openly upon his face.

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  11. I agree with Sean. He is trying to hide his sin but the veil reveals his sin.

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  12. He is a window to each pesrons sin. it reflects upon everyome else.

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  13. I think that seeing himself in the mirror with the veil scared the minister because it represented all of his sins past present and future and how he couldn't break himself from it.

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  14. willie-
    i agree with sean because it shows him trying to hide what he has done but by wearing the veil that shows he is trying to hide something

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  15. okay what the inner circle was saying why is he afraid of his own reflection in the mirror? I don't know who said it on the inner circle so I'll just take there credit.
    Hi Kevin

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  16. I think that the veil is black because it reflects how ashamed the minister is of his sins.

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  17. Is he hiding his own problems or also the problems of the community?

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  18. Is the color black or red a better symbol of evil?

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  19. The veil represents a mask, why would the minister choose to wear a mask that bewilders people and alienates himself?

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  20. I think the black veil represents darkness and all the sins that are going trough with him. People know what the veil is and what the meaning of it is.

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  21. Every puritan has sin, and so that's why it says at the end that everyone was wearing a black veil. I think they're saying that everyone has sin, just some people are more obvious about it.
    Also, the fact that the veil improved his sermons, it shows that he had sin but he moved past it into holiness, even though there was a disconnect between him and the holy page.

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  22. Hunter, I think that the inner circle meant that he is afraid of what he has become thanks to a sin and as a clergyman, that is not good.

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  23. If the veil represents a mask, what kind of mask is the minister wearing?

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  24. I think that the reactions of the veil was negative was because they didn't want to face the truth and come to terms with their sins.

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  25. Cortez- I agree with what you said, it has no depth ot personality, the veil has nothing to represent, it is exactly what you said, it's nothing.

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  26. Jacob
    Maybe he alienates hims self so that he is not as much excepted in the community. In a way it could be a form of self punishment for what ever reason he chose to do it.

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  27. cortez-
    i think he is mainly hiding his own prolems but it also helped clear the problems in the community because he got more respect from them in a way. but also people looked at him and thought it was a bad thing to do

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  28. Nate, I think that black represents more hiding the sins, and evil and red is the actual evil.

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  29. Cortez
    I think that he is hiding the sins of his community because he told his wife that he wouldn't take it off until everyone confessed their sins.

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  30. -Cortez
    I think he is doing both but his hiding his own problems more then the community

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  31. to cortez-
    the minister is hiding his problems under the veil because he does not want others to see it.

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  32. Andy
    Do you think that he thought he was nothing and had to prove to him self that he was something?

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  33. I think earl made a great connection between the veil and the reflecting sunglasses from the prison experiment, they both break eye contact and disguise who is behind them

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  34. I think he has turned his mask around to show the sin that everyone tries to hide, hes showing the truth that exists in the world.

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  35. Nate: do you think that the veil makes him act different like the sunglasses kinda made the guards act different

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  36. I agree with Lee about showing the truth that exist in the world. Maybe that is why he was such a good clergyman, because he wasn't afraid to tell the world the truth about his sins and hoped that they would do the same.

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  37. Nate- I think that the colors represent different types of sin, red represents the bloody type of sin, the lust and the crimes against nature, where black more represents the sins against god himself, breaking the rules of the bible not necissarily harming people.

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  39. Does the veil represent the sin of everyone from the community? Like Emily was saying in the inner circle all wear masks and pretend they're perfect, did the minister just flip which mask is his real personality and what he shows to other people?

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  40. I think the minister is trying to hide himself but also knows who he is and is trying to be who he really wants himself to be.

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  41. Nate
    I think that black is a better symbol of evil because when i think of evil the first thing i think of is black or darkness

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  43. Tyler: yes i think when people have a mask over their face then people act differently, and are more likely to abuse power than if they didnt have a mask on

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  44. That's a really cool idea, Grace. The fact that he can show who he actually is on the outside is really profound.

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  45. I agree Nate
    About how the connection between the veil and the reflecting sunglasses from the prison experiment they disguise who they really are and when they put them on they disguised who they really are and become that mask

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  46. I find that the reason why he wears the veil because it shows his sin, but it also hides his face because he is ashamed of his sin because he is “supposed to be perfect”, and by wearing the veil it also hides his face.

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  47. Cortez- No, I think that he is just trying to wear the veil to show that the sin lives inside of all of us, he is not necessarily trying to prove himself. He is just trying to show people that everybody sins. Like Mrs. Leclaire said, would you rather have a leader that confesseed to sin, or a leader that acts as though they are higher than you in social status because they never sinned?

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  48. Willie
    But who is he hiding his face form, himself or his community?

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  49. i think the veil gives him some sort of protection because he can be who he really is and people know its him but they cant see his face because of the veil. if someones face is covered it seems they are more willing to go do things they would want to do rather than if they could see their face

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  50. Cortez

    I think he is hiding his face from both himself and his community.

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  51. I believe the minister was trying to prove to people that he is not innocent or pure, like it is assumed that he is because he is a minister. He is trying to fit in with the village people because they all have sinned, but they do not recieve the statement like that, and they ostresized him for it because it made them question their way of life.

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  52. i agree with andy i think that a truthful leader is better than one who looks perfect but lies about other things

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  53. is everyone in the community perfect? or is the minister the only one good enough to show that he sinned?

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  54. I also thought that he had an affair with the dead girl at the funeral, the way Hawthrone descirbes his actions at the funeral.

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  55. Andy
    What about the third option. A leader that sinned but is still higher up. Would you condone that leader or would you rather fallow the demagogue that looks good?

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  56. Sean-
    No i think that everybody in every community has sinned, because no one is perfect

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  57. sean- I think everyone has sined one time or another but the minister is just shown more with the veil so everyone can see.

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  58. -Seanf
    I think people today in OUR society people try and act/look perfect to everyone else, everyone has skeletons in their closests.

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  59. Sean
    I think that the minister is the only one that is good enough to show that he has sinned and that he is better for learning his lesson and showing his sin, than compared to the people that deny their own sins. who never learned to cope with the fact that they are not perfect but the veil represents closure with his imperfections.

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  60. Willie- I agree, his portrayal is that he is supposed a leader who has never messed up. I like what you said that it shows his sins and hides his face, he is scared of people knowing what he has done. The ignominy he would face in public having shown his face would be to hard to face, and thats why he is wearing the veil.

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  61. Cortez- I think that a leader that has divulged that they are a sinner would make people more easily loyal to the cause.

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  62. lbutler
    You better get those skeletons out of your closet quick before the cops come

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