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Scarlet Letter Reading Check - Chapters
16 – 18
Please use separate paper. 1. Pearl comments “ Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself…” What was taking place at the time? Explain the symbolic significance involved. 2. The brook figures importantly throughout this section, and Hawthorne more or less explains its symbolism. What is the importance of the brook? What is it meant to symbolize and convey? 3. Ch. 17 contains raw passion – the first exhibited in the novel. Comment on the diction used: shadow…haunted…specter…dim…grave…ghost…chill…they glided back into the shadow of the woods … 4. How does Dimmesdale react at first when Hester reveals Chillingworth’s secret? 5. Dimmesdale says, “We are not the worst sinners in the world…he has violated the sanctity of a human heart…” Hester replies, “What we did had a consecration of its own. We felt it so!” Interpret the scene – what is going on, and what are they referring to? 6. Hester exclaims, “Is the world so narrow? Doth the universe lie within the compass of yonder town…thou art free!” What is she urging the minister to consider? 7. To symbolize her flush of freedom, what gesture does Hester make? 8. Dimmesdale prophetically states, “I have long shrunk from children, because they often show a distrust…to be familiar with me.” In what way is this proven to be true? 9. What effect does the great black forest have upon Pearl? 10. Pearl comes walking to the brook side, adorned in what fashion? |
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