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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where have Hester and Dimmesdale decided would be the best place to escape to?
(a) Europe.
(b) The American South.
(c) Salem.
(d) An Indian settlement.

2. What group of people leads the procession referred to in the title of Chapter 22?
(a) The public officials.
(b) The musicians.
(c) The clergy.
(d) The soldiers.

3. What metal is the previously mentioned book and pen associated with?
(a) Silver.
(b) Bronze.
(c) Iron.
(d) Gold.

4. Who is said to ride "with Satan through the air?"
(a) Bats.
(b) Banshees.
(c) Witches.
(d) Demons.

5. Where does Dimmesdale imagine a "scarlet token?"
(a) On Pearl.
(b) On his forehead.
(c) On his chest.
(d) On Hester.

Short Answer Questions

1. "Its ranks were filled with gentlemen, who felt the stirrings of martial impulse" describes which group of men in the procession referred to in the title of Chapter 22?

2. What does Dimmesdale tell Chillingworth while he is writing the sermon is Chapter 20?

3. Where does the minister go in the beginning of Chapter 12?

4. What marks particular attendants of the holiday as members of their forest settlements?

5. Whom does Dimmesdale call up to join him in front of everyone?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 13, Hawthorne says that some people would think that Hester's scarlet letter stands for "Able." Why?

2. How does Pearl decorate herself at the end of Chapter 18 differently from how she did in the woods when Hester met Chillingworth?

3. In Chapter 16, Hester changes her story to Pearl about the significance of the scarlet letter. What does she say about the letter in Chapter 16?

4. Describe the three suspected causes of the "A" carved into Dimmesdale's chest.

5. How does Hawthorne describe Dimmesdale, either physically or emotionally, at the beginning of Chapter 13?

6. How does the narrator describe the public officials in Chapter 22, many of whom were real historical figures (figures such as Bradstreet, Endicott, etc.)?

7. When Dimmesdale refuses to travel and quit his post as minister, how does Hester change his mind?

8. What does Pearl do with the seaweed she finds, and what does it show about her as a character?

9. Why do Hester and Pearl gather with other townspeople at the beginning of Chapter 21?

10. What, according to the narrator, enlivened the public holiday with "some diversity of hue?"

(see the answer keys)

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