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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. "Hester at her WHAT" is the title of Chapter 5?

2. Who is with the governor when Hester visits his house to deliver something?

3. What prominent wild plant grows just outside the door to the jail?

4. What are the "delicate gems" referred to at the end of Chapter 1?

5. Chose which of the following best describes the tone in the last sentence of Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Hawthorne find alongside the scarlet letter?

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

3. What has happened to the original spirit of the town of Salem, as in, to the legacy of the original founders?

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

5. What is Dimmesdale's argument for keeping Hester and Pearl together?

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

7. How does Pearl react to other children?

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

9. What kind of skill does Hester use to support herself?

10. How does Hawthorne describe the inhabitants of Boston?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This novel relies on symbolism to tell its story of psychological torment. Pick several of the major symbols or symbolic systems at work in the novel, describe them in terms of Hawthorne's fictional technique and offer an interpretation of their symbolic meaning on multiple levels.

Essay Topic 2

One major set of symbols in this work has to do with an interplay of the supernatural and the natural, both of which express various emotions or meanings at particular times in the book. Incorporating at least three examples from each category (three examples of the natural and three of the supernatural), define these concepts in terms of Hawthorne's novel, and interpret your examples in a comparative manner to show how they function in helping Hawthorne's narrator tell this story.

Essay Topic 3

Hester Prynne is a single mother in Puritan New England. Explain and analyze the way Hawthorne characterizes her, using specific examples of his technique, as well as the way he dramatizes her psychology. Be sure to consider the choices Hester makes/is forced to make throughout the novel. Is Hester a strong character or a weak one? What do you think of the way she has conducted herself? Back up your arguments with specific textual examples.

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