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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. To whom does this description refer: "a seemingly careless arrangement of his heterogeneous garb"?
(a) Chillingworth.
(b) Dimmesdale.
(c) Wilson.
(d) Bellingham.

2. Why is Pearl's mother questioned about whether or not she should have custody of the baby?
(a) Because of her sin.
(b) Because Hester has a drinking problem.
(c) Because Pearl is hanging out with a bad crowd.
(d) Because Pearl is acting out in school.

3. What prominent wild plant grows just outside the door to the jail?
(a) A weeping willow.
(b) A rose bush.
(c) Lilacs.
(d) Dandelions.

4. Hawthorne writes of his surprise and what in the first lines of the preface?
(a) Joy.
(b) Amusement.
(c) Laughter.
(d) Detriment.

5. The following description of someone's eyes in Chapter 10 refers to which character: "burning blue and ominous, like the reflection of a furnace....like one of those gleams of ghastly fire"?
(a) Chillingworth.
(b) Dimmesdale.
(c) Pearl.
(d) Hester.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which character says, ironically, "why should a wretched man, guilty, we will say, of murder, prefer to keep the dead corpse buried in his own heart, rather than fling it forth at once"?

2. Who is named as Hester's pastor in Chapter 2?

3. The title of Chapter 5 refers to what?

4. According to the narrator, what is the first thing that Pearl noticed, as a baby?

5. Who is NOT among the crowd shaming Hester?

Short Essay Questions

1. Name one of the two reasons Hawthorne suspects that the plant standing outside the prison survived.

2. Why is "The Leech" an appropriate and significant name for this chapter?

3. How does Pearl react to other children?

4. Of all the finery in the governor's mansion, what does Pearl cry for most of all?

5. Why does Dimmesdale not see through Chillingworth and understand his true (nefarious) agenda, according to the narrator in Chapter 10?

6. What does Hawthorne promise to "alter or expunge"?

7. What does the governor think about Hester as a mother?

8. How does Hawthorne describe the inhabitants of Boston?

9. What does Chillingworth implore Hester to do when they meet in the jail?

10. What happens to Hester when the jailer introduces Chillingworth?

(see the answer keys)

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