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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. Which character is described as having a "wildflower prettiness?"
(a) Pearl.
(b) Hester.
(c) Chillingworth.
(d) Hibbins.

2. What is the "pedestal of infamy?"
(a) The governor's mantle.
(b) The scaffold.
(c) The altar.
(d) The steeple.

3. How does Hawthorne describe the historic Salem of years ago?
(a) A bustling port.
(b) A sad sailing town.
(c) A dour harbor.
(d) A busy metropolis.

4. What does Pearl desperately desire from the governor's garden?
(a) A cabbage.
(b) A rose.
(c) A pumpkin.
(d) A tulip.

5. At the governor's house when the men are debating Hester's custody, what does one of them say Pearl should have been named?
(a) Scarlet, Rose or Diamond.
(b) Ruby, Scarlet or Roseanna.
(c) Ruby, Coral or Red Rose.
(d) Pinkie, Cora or Rosa.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Hawthorne refuse to change what he has written?

2. This preface is the preface to which edition of the novel?

3. Which part of The Scarlet Letter does this preface specifically refer to?

4. What color is the thread that embroiders the scarlet letter?

5. Hawthorne writes of his surprise and what in the first lines of the preface?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Hester delivers gloves to the governor, what is the other reason for her going there?

2. Why does Hester stay in town after she is released from jail in Chapter 5?

3. Describe the door to the jail.

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

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

6. Describe the setting Hawthorne describes of the busy wharf.

7. How does Hawthorne describe the inhabitants of Boston?

8. How does Dimmesdale respond to his growing guilt? How does he punish himself?

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

10. How does Pearl react to other children?

(see the answer keys)

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