The Black Veil

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" tells the fictional story of a minister who chooses to shroud himself in a black veil at all times, even unto his death. This takes place in a Puritan society, and Nathaniel Hawthorne is able to express his feelings about Puritans through this story. The Minister's congregation is horrified at the veil. They completely abandoned their pastor just because he changed his exterior appearance. They failed to realize that their pastor has become prolifilic in winning souls to the Lord and has improved his preaching drastically. They are blinded by a superficial appearance. Even though he develops into a great minister, he is crippled by the black veil he chooses to wear, it alienates him from all of his friend and even ruins his marriage. Hawthorne seems to be calling out the Puritan society for a rampant superficiality.

Self Reliance- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."

The quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson's work Self Reliance. Throughout the entire course of Self Reliance, Emerson continues the theme of trusting yourself over anything else in life. He closes with the above statement. Self Reliance builds towards this point for its entire length. Emerson make the definitive statement that nothing in life can bring you peace unless your personal principles are sound. Nothing in the world that you accomplish can truly make you happy unless you are at peace with yourself. By handling yourself by your own strong set of principles you can achieve a kind of peace that is unacheivable from the outside world. If the principles are good and true, then peace will surely follow you. However, if your principles are not sound, then it is impossible to achive true peace from outside means.