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The Dynamics of Cultural Veils: American Literary Tradition
By Mabel Deane Khawaja.
Published by The International Journal of the Humanities
| Format | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Article: Print | $US10.00 | |
| Article: Electronic | $US5.00 |
In the nineteenth century Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” puzzled his readers about the symbolism and the secrecy surrounding the image of the veil. Was it equivalent to the overt symbol of the fallen condition of humans – socially or morally? Or, was it another image for the “the scarlet letter-- A” worn by Hester Pryne because of her pregnancy that unveiled her adulterous act and gender inferiority while the identity of her male counterpart remained veiled behind the secrecy of silence and gendered privilege? In Hawthorne’s fiction the veil contributes to a unique literary tradition that is rooted in Western culture, yet it creatively connects the old and the new worlds through diversity of cultures. In this new world, the symbol of the veil depicts new tensions and ambiguities latent in the American cultural diversity, and the veiled layers of meaning in American literature link the historical contexts of divergent viewpoints to varying religious ideologies, ethnic differences, and racial divides. For example, in “We Wear a Mask,”a poem by an African-American poet, presents the mask as a veiling device in an innovative context of realism to address the ambiguities of racial perceptions and misunderstanding in a culturally divided society.
| Keywords: | Veil, Mask, Cultural Identity, American Literary History Identitarianism, Diversity, Color-Coded Slavery, Religion, Puritan, Post-Colonial, Ambivalence |
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The International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 5, Issue 12, pp.175-182. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 479.033KB).
Dr. Mabel Deane Khawaja
Associate Professor, National Council of Teachers of English, University of Virginia, Hampton, Virginia, USA