Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" is the oppostie of light and simple writing. Hawthorne took great care in writing his story so that it would catch the audiences attention and take them by surprise. The way Hawthorne wrote this story was dark and resembles characteristics of gothic writing. Through his tone, diction, and attention to the smallest of details, he made his story dark and gloomy, the same dark and gloomy that was the scenery of the story. Transcendentalists principals do not shine through in Hawthorne's writing, but he chooses to mock them almost and appoint strong arguments against Transcendentalists philosophy.
Hawthorne's use of dark diction creates a surrounding atmosphere of darkness, scenery, and anecdotes. Nathaniel Hawthorne also used juxtaposition in "The Minister's Black Veil" to create two extremes, leading the audience to feel the shift that the characters in the story felt. By starting out his story on church Sunday with merry children and then ending with gloomy days and death. He completed another set of opposites by creating the story of a funeral and a wedding within his own story of the minister. Weddings and funerals are entirely two different subject that bring forth two different emotions. Creating such opposites allows the reader to feel the intense sadness of the funeral and the intense happiness of the wedding.
One reason that Hawthorne may have written such opposites was too show, in such extremes, the opposite of good and bad. Trancendentalists believe that all humans are created by God; God is as good as they can be so therefore humans are bestowed with goodnes, inner-light. Hawthorne used the extremes of merry children and then of horrified adults to show that as people age, they loose what good they had as children, what innocence they not long ago had.
Another Transcendentalists principle is non-conformity and in Hawthorne's story it is clear that when someone does or wears something out of society's norms, they are looked upon as if they have committed a crime (maybe Mr. Hooper did- not my analysis just something I feel like you would say Mr. Walters). Transcendentalists would has believed that Mr. Hooper should have been able to wear the clothing accessory he chose without the criticism of his peers.
This story by Nathaniel Hawthorne is dark and not friendly; it is a story about how life can be filled with opposites such as ups and downs, sadness and happiness. Hawthorne's writing is skillful and enables the reader to connect through emotion to the story, which is normally what allows for one to engage in reading.