Minister's Black Veil

"The Minister's Black Veil" was a pretty interesting short story. It took me a while to get into the story and figure out what was going on, but after reading the note at the end of the story and talking about Handkerchief Moody it all started making sense. The connection to Handkerchief Moody and how he had murdered his friend on accident as a child caused me to start thinking deeper into the story of the "Minister's Black Veil". I wondered what Hooper had done in his past that caused him to suddenly start wearing the veil. Had he committed a crime or done something that made him feel extremely guilty-- thus he decided that it was too shameful for him to even show his face ever again? Or had his face suddenly disfigured and it was so ugly that he felt no one should see it? Also, what did he look like before he started wearing the veil? From what I could gather from the story, he hadn't always worn the veil, so wouldn't the people in the town know what he looked like and not be quite as nervous about it? What could happen in one night that would make him suddenly be afraid to ever see his face?

I especially liked how at the end of the story when the other pastor tries to take off Hooper's veil, Hooper acts very calm at first and says that he is going to let the pastor remove his veil, but then he freaks out and says "Never on Earth!" and won't let anyone see his face.

Also, when Hooper was drinking the wine at the wedding that he crashed and got a glimpse of his face; he spit out the wine and left. I found this to be very curious. Was his face that ugly or startling? Although this story was interesting, I still have numerous questions that I can't seem to get past.