The Minister's Black Veil

“he had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild persuasive influence rather than drive them thither”

"Discussion of Hawthorne's work should never proceed … as if his characteristic ambiguity were not ambiguity really, but a sort of puzzle set for critical acumen to solve. Hawthorne's ambiguity is one of his ways of representing his pervasive sense of mystery, a kind of humility in him." Neal Frank Doubleday

In the story “The Minister’s Black Veil”, the narrator describes a small peaceful town of Milford. The narrator describes the arrival of the minister Mr. Hooper and the reaction of the people in town about his appearance. Mr. Hooper wears a black veil from his forehead to his nose, and that disturbs and even frights people in town. “a gentlemanly person of about thirty, though still a bachelor…dressed with clerical neatness, as if a careful wife had starched his band and brushed the weekly dust from his Sunday’s garb” Mr. Hooper begins to be seem as a mysterious person. No one comprehends the veil, and people begin to be disturbed also by the fact that he does not seem to be acting normal.

Only his fiancé is comfortable with his veil, but even she questions his attitude and asks for some explanation, which she does not get. When Mr. Hooper is dying, a young minister in the church asks Mr. Hooper to remove his veil before he dies, but he refuses, being buried with his black veil.

Hawthorne in this story creates a fascinating idea of mysteries and secrets that make the reader think and imagine the reason behind the veil. For me, the veils in the story is more than just an object, it became a symbol of isolation and secrets. I believe Mr. Hooper has committed some kind of bad sin and he is punishing himself for that. The veil covers his shame and relieves his tensions of immoral behavior.

Life in the Iron-Mills

“This is what I want you to do. I want you to hide your disgust, take no heed to your clean clothes, and come right down with me.”

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.” Rebecca Harding Davis.


In the story “Life in The Iron Mill,” the author Rebecca Harding Davis describes how money has a crucial rule in the American society and how a nation can pay for it. From a window of her residence, the speaker describes the sights, sounds, and smells of the polluted industrial atmosphere in the nineteen century. By her description, the reader pictures the town and the streets like “hell” as she says herself. The quote above, expresses the speakers feeling about the industrialization and capitalism in the society. I feel that the reader has a sense that the speaker is almost screaming, asking for help.

The difference of the social class also creates a notable division between the poor, powerless workers and the powerful, businesspeople and professionals. Davis tries to point out since the beginning, how it is to work and live in “Iron Hill”, focusing on industrial work, poverty, capitalism and exploration of the immigrants. The speaker describes the characters as uneducated and lower class immigrants, working hard in this industry and having a miserable life. Deb,which in the story tries to make justice and help her cousin, in the story is described couple of times as “hungry” but her hunger is not for food, her soul starves for love, change and respect. Unfortunately, the story shows that many people, talented men, women, has no place in the society, has no opportunities or any chance to do what they want and like. Instead, they are forced to retend to be someelse, life by the rules, and be just another worker in the Iron-Mills industry.

Bartleby, The Scrivener

Daniely Modesto
English 48A
Journal for Herman Melville
September 28, 2009

I might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach”

"Here I can cheaply purchase a delicious self-approval. To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange wilfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience." The narrator’s unwillingness to exercise charity and authority has finally caught up with him, and his abandoning Bartleby to a new tenant is an act of pure cowardice.
Melville story bites.com

In “Bartleby, The Scrivener,” Herman Melville writes about Bartleby, an old scrivener who the Lawyer hires for his office. The lawyer seems to be a good boss, very attentive and kind to all his employees. The lawyer describes his office and everybody how works there however, Bartleby gets later all the reader’s attention. Bartleby at first seems to be a great employee, but later he becomes an individual who refuses to be part of the society. He starts rejecting work and any other request from his boss. The lawyer always tries to help and understand what is wrong with him, but he always “prefers not to say anything”.

Bartleby in the story, starts being described as an unbalanced and aliened person, however, nobody is sure what is wrong with him. Bartleby's isolation is dangerous and it leads him to depression and his death. Bartleby is just not happy with what is going on with his life and the whole society, he does not want to be just another “copy machine” in that office. He wants to make a difference in the world, but nobody seems to understand him.
The boss in the story says "I placed his desk close up to a small side window in that part of the room, a window which originally had afforded a lateral view of certain grimy backyards, and bricks, but which, owning to insubsequent erections, commanded at present, no view at all, though it gave some light”. Again, Bartleby is been trapped behind another wall, reinforcing his isolation and depression. What is ironic in the story is that the boss later becomes affected for Bartleby and tries to help him. "There was something about Bartleby that not only strangely disarmed me, but in a wonderful manner, touched and disconnected me" claims the lawyer, trying to understand Bartleby issue with the work and life. The boss offers Bartleby to come and live in his house for a while, but as expected, he denies, as if he was giving up the world. The narrator is a kind man who treats Bartleby with sympathy and understanding, even though he does not know what is wrong with him.
In my opinion, the narrator is representing the society, which keeps telling us what to do, without giving us any choice to speak to ourselves. The boss offers him another kind of job, but he never gave him a chance to say what he really wants to do. Bartleby’s end is sad, and I believe still happens in our society when people just give up their dreams instead of “prefer not to” and speak up.

Second Inaugural Address, March 4,1865

Daniely Modesto
English 48A
Journal for Abraham Lincoln
September 25, 2009

“Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.”

“Lincoln, one week before his death, had a dream of someone crying in the White House, when he found the room; he looked in and asked who had passed away. The man in the room said the President. When he looked in the coffin, he saw his own face.” A. Lincoln Library.

Lincoln explains that both- North and South- did not want the war but they could not just say no. His words were quite disappointed and weary, while he tried to reconciliate his people. Lincoln used of religious images, and his belief in God in order to compose people as common citizens of one nation only. He places guilty, but both sides are blameworthy. Lincoln’s speech was political and spiritual altogether. Using his Biblical quote he states: “Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God;” Lincoln’s speech was a plea to the people to forget the past and start a new nation.

Abraham Lincoln determination was a great influence in the world then and today. He achieved one of the most memorable and influential goal in the American History. If he had not fought for his ideals, there would be a chance that slavery would still exist. His speech was not very long, but very touchable and persuasive.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Daniely Modesto
English 48A
Journal for Harriet Beecher Stowe
September 25, 2009



"The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched and creaked as her weight came on it, but she staid there not a moment. With wild cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake;--stumbling--leaping--slipping--springing upwards again!"

“After Mrs. Stowe became acclaimed, at one point she asserted she did not write Uncle Tom's Cabin; God wrote it, and she served merely as His instrument.” Harriet Beecher Stowe: “A Little Bit of a Woman” By Barbara Smith.

Stowe in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” creates memorable characters that represented the inhumanity of slavery and the depressing action that was taking on the whole nation. Eliza, one of the main characters in the novel, is described, as a strong woman, who runs away with her son in order to avoid their separation. Going through dangerous situations, and risking her life to escape from the south, Stowe made many unaware people understand how those people live and how maltreated they were by their slaveholders.

The book opened up the realities of slavery to the entire world. The novel was a great influence at the time because it was able to show the country, vivid images of slaves’ life in the South. Stowe showed that even “good” slaves owner, when desperate for money, can separate, and sell them. Stowe brought the moral conflict to the public, causing many people to start rethinking their moral judgments about the issue. What was before indifferent, became often more critical and closer to an end.