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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Wilson asks Pearl who made her, what does she answer?
(a) That Hester had made her alone.
(b) That a stork had delivered her.
(c) That her mother had picked her off a rose bush.
(d) That Dimmesdale is her father.

2. In which year was this preface written?
(a) 1800.
(b) 1850.
(c) 1950.
(d) 1750.

3. Why does Hawthorne refuse to change what he has written?
(a) He enjoys the notoriety.
(b) He has made too much money from it.
(c) He wants to hurt the victim of his wit.
(d) He thinks it is true.

4. How old is the baby in Hester's arms when we first see her?
(a) Three days.
(b) Three months.
(c) Six months.
(d) A week.

5. Which character seeks to make him or herself "the one trusted friend, to whom should be confided all the fear"?
(a) Chillingworth.
(b) Dimmesdale.
(c) Hibbins.
(d) Wilson.

6. Which political party does Hawthorne belong?
(a) Whig.
(b) Republican.
(c) Bull Moose.
(d) Tory.

7. The title of Chapter 8 is the what and "the Minister?"
(a) The Elf-Child and the Minister.
(b) The Elfin and the Minister.
(c) The Miniature and the Minstrel.
(d) The Minstrel and the Minister.

8. Who is the patient referred to in the title of Chapter 10?
(a) Bellingham.
(b) Chillingworth.
(c) Leech.
(d) Dimmesdale.

9. What distinguishes the men in the "throng" at the beginning of thChapter 1?
(a) They are ministers.
(b) They are bearded.
(c) They are bald.
(d) They are fat.

10. Where are Dimmesdale's parents?
(a) In Salem.
(b) In Boston.
(c) In England.
(d) Dead.

11. What does Hawthorne find in a "mysterious package" in the Custom-House?
(a) Hester's diary.
(b) A painting of Hester and Pearl.
(c) Dimmesdale's diary.
(d) The scarlet letter.

12. According to Hawthorne, the reaction could not have been more violent if...?
(a) He had murdered someone.
(b) He had committed adultery.
(c) He had kidnapped someone.
(d) He had burned down the Custom-House.

13. What, at the end of Chapter 11, is the "only truth" for Dimmesdale?
(a) "The malice in Chillingworth's eyes."
(b) "The mercy of almightly Heaven."
(c) "The joy in his beating heart."
(d) "The anguish in his inmost soul."

14. Hawthorne calls the Custom House a...?
(a) Sketch of official life.
(b) Picture of the colony.
(c) Portrait of the Puritans.
(d) Sketch of old-time Salem.

15. Hester's work is seen everywhere with the exception of:
(a) In church.
(b) On babies.
(c) At funerals.
(d) At weddings.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who, in Chapter 5, is referred to as "the figure, the body, the reality of sin?"

2. Which minister in the book has "a border of grizzled locks beneath his skull-cap" and gray eyes?

3. Where has Chillingworth been gathering herbs, when he is asked by the minister in Chapter 10?

4. What street runs outside the Custom-House?

5. What is the subtitle of "The Custom-House"?

(see the answer keys)

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