r. Emerson also writes that, "The power which resides in him (referring to all humans) is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried."This reflects the idea of the Transcendentalism which looks at the possibilities of the human spirit, and what it can achieve. Contrasting Transcendentalism, Anti-Transcendentalism focused on the darkness of the human soul. Anti-Transcendentalism believed that the Transcendental point of view was much too optimistic, and the works of the literary authors overlooked the evil that plagued man. Anti-Transcendentalists embraced the existence of sin and evil, which made their literary pieces very dark. They viewed Nature as a two-sided force, having both a graceful side and a destructive side. For Anti-Transcendentalists, Nature reflected all that was paradoxical and unexplainable. Their focus was also on the limitations of the human spirit, and stressed the idea that each of us held potential destructiveness. This literary movement consisted of only two writers, being Nathaniel Hawthorne and Hermen Melville. In Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," Anti-transcendental ideas can be recognized throughout the entity of the story.Nathaniel Hawthorne's, "The Minister's Black Veil," deals with sin and concealed guilt, with hypocrisy and humility, in a dark tale that shows the true insight of the Puritan conscience. His story reflects the Anti-Transcendental ideas, using a black veil covering a minister's face to symbolize human sin. He symbolized the Anti-Transcendental ideas of life's truths beings disturbing. "The subject (referring to minister) had bad reference to secret sin, and these sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our consciousness, even forgetting that the omniscient can detect them". This quote from this story, is an example of the Anti-Transcendental idea that we all have sins which we hide...
