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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What is the title of Chapter 14?
2. What is the holiday referred to in the title of Chapter 21?
3. Who, according to the narrator, is at the "head of the social system" in Puritan times?
4. What does Dimmesdale tell Chillingworth while he is writing the sermon is Chapter 20?
5. In Chapter 14, the narrator symbolized the truth by what?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does the narrator describe the public officials in Chapter 22, many of whom were real historical figures (figures such as Bradstreet, Endicott, etc.)?
2. Many people pass Dimmesdale by in this chapter; why are so many people up so late and walking about?
3. In Chapter 15, when Pearl asks Hester what the letter stands for, what does Hester reply?
4. How does Hawthorne describe Dimmesdale, either physically or emotionally, at the beginning of Chapter 13?
5. In Chapter 13, Hawthorne says that some people would think that Hester's scarlet letter stands for "Able." Why?
6. Why, in Chapter 18, does Hester remove the scarlet letter and fling it into a brook?
7. According to the narrator, what appeared to be Dimmesdale's subject, in his sermon in Chapter 23?
8. What kinds of thoughts occur to Dimmesdale when he sees a deacon on the way home in Chapter 20 and why?
9. Why will Hester and Dimmesdale have to head back to Europe, instead of moving somewhere more rural or remote?
10. When Hester calls for Pearl to come to her in Chapter 19, Pearl will not move from her spot in the woods. What prevents her from going to her mother?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
One way that Hawthorne has structured this novel is symmetrical, with sets of mirror images radiating from a central chapter. Offering at least one example of this kind of symmetry, as well as examples of Hawthorne's reliance on "mirror images" or opposites for other purposes of this narrative, analyze the structure of this novel. You may want to concentrate on the very beginning of the narrative proper, the middle, and the very end to establish you clear vision of the "shape" or structure of the narrative.
Essay Topic 2
Despite the dark tone and dour mood of this novel, Hawthorne's narrative voice does offer some levity, irony and humor to lighten the mood at key points in this novel, including the irony in some of the chapter titles. Pick several examples of this irony, other forms of irony, archness/humor, and explain how these examples help lighten the mood.
Essay Topic 3
Hypocrisy emerges as a major theme of this book. Pick a set of examples (such as one or two of the major characters, or specific chapters/settings/events) that demonstrate the forms of hypocrisy Hawthorne saw in Puritan life, and write an essay that explains them in terms of Hawthorne's criticism of such hypocrisy.
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This section contains 1,088 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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