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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. Who is said to haunt the forest outside town, carrying a big, heavy book with him?
(a) The Dark Reverend.
(b) The Dark Man.
(c) The Black Man.
(d) The Evil Man.

2. In Chapter 14, the narrator symbolized the truth by what?
(a) "A fletched arrow."
(b) "A mysterious maze."
(c) "A tall white pedestal."
(d) "A red-hot iron."

3. What, according to many of the townspeople who have come to appreciate Hester, should the A stand for?
(a) Able.
(b) Angel.
(c) Addled.
(d) Aloof.

4. Whom does Dimmesdale call up to join him in front of everyone?
(a) Wilson.
(b) Chillingworth.
(c) Hester.
(d) Hester and Pearl.

5. How long did it take before Chillingworth died?
(a) Less than a year.
(b) Immediately after Dimmesdale.
(c) Five years.
(d) Ten years.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the title of Chapter 14?

2. Why is Dimmesdale at the town center Chapter 12?

3. Whom does Dimmesdale set out to meet?

4. Who is mentioned in Chapter 13 as a "foundress of a religious sect?"

5. Why will Pearl not come to Hester in Chapter 19?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why will Hester and Dimmesdale have to head back to Europe, instead of moving somewhere more rural or remote?

2. Why does Hawthorne describe Pearl, in Chapter 19, as a "living hieroglyphic."

3. Why, at the end of the book, is Hester making a baby garment?

4. What kinds of thoughts occur to Dimmesdale when he sees a deacon on the way home in Chapter 20 and why?

5. In Chapter 14, what does Hester ask of Chillingworth?

6. According to the narrator, what appeared to be Dimmesdale's subject, in his sermon in Chapter 23?

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

8. Why does Chillingworth attempt to stop Hester and Pearl from joining Dimmesdale on the scaffold?

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

10. In Chapter 15, when Pearl asks Hester what the letter stands for, what does Hester reply?

(see the answer keys)

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