Summer Reading Assignments for Junior Honors English
Middletown Christian School
Susan Dugas – Instructor
Dugas 1
Welcome to Middletown Christian School’s Junior Honors English Class. This summer you will be
reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Inherit the Wind a play by Jerome Lawrence and
Robert E. Lee. If you should have any questions regarding the following assignments, please feel free to
contact me via email over the summer (sdugas @mcseagles.net).
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Form of report should be as follows: Word processed, double spaced in 10 or 12 point plain font like
Times New Roman or Courier with one inch margins all around. Upper left hand corner of first page
should give (each on a new line) Student’s name, Date Due (August 31, 2015), and Scarlet Letter
Report. Each page including the first should have the student’s last name and page number in upper
right hand corner as I have done on this page. Begin the report with a bibliographic entry of the book
you used for reading. A bibliographic entry is done as follows:
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Penguin Books, 2001.
This paper is formal in form. All rules of English grammar, punctuation and usage apply. Anytime you
refer to some particular passage in the book you should end the sentence with the page number from
which the reference was taken. See Question #1. Please notice that the period below comes after the
parenthesis with the page number. The answers to the first two questions should be ¾ to a page in
length. The answers to the question #3 should be in sentence form, and each answer should consist of
two to three sentences. Please Note: Write your responses to the questions in present tense. All
written work about fiction is written in present tense.
1. Speaking of Hester, Hawthorne writes, “She knew that her deed had been evil; therefore, she could
have no faith that its result would be for good” (92). Is there any fallacy in this reasoning? Why or
why not? If you use a reference from the book (and you should) put the page number in a parenthetical
footnote. Also you may support your opinion with scripture passages.
2. Explain the worse part of Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin and explain how and why it leads to his downfall.
Explain why this would lead to a downfall for any man with truths from the Scriptures. Your Biblical
references should also be in parenthetical form. (John 3:16).
3. In The Scarlet Letter there are multiple things that symbolize something significant other than their
obvious definition. I have listed some of these. Choose five (5) of the following and explain what their
symbolic meaning is in the story. You must choose the first and give at least three different meanings of
the “A.” 1. The Scarlet A
6. The brook
2. The beadle
7. Hester
3. The forest
8. Pearl
4. The hand led over the minister’s heart 9. Dimmesdale
5. The “Black Man”
10. Chillingworth
4. List ten (10) words you did not know the meaning of, the page number in the book where you read
them, and their definition.
5. Due Date: August 31, 2015.
Inherit the Wind A play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Be prepared to discuss this play on the first day of school or soon thereafter. This discussion may
culminate in an in-class writing assignment or graded test.
Anytime you are analyzing a piece of literature you should consider (and it would be very wise for you
to have notes that concern) the following things:
How does the structure of the piece affect the theme? Analyze the narrator, voice, plot development,
foreshadowing, conflicts, and/or climax. Check how the characters are developed; what motivates them;
how do they change; are they lifeless or flawed? How does the setting and action mirror the character’s
psychological state? Is the author’s point of view clear, implied, biased, religious? Is anything in the
book ironic or symbolic? What role do figures of speech (such as metaphors) play? Is the tone of the
story credible and effective?
Notes taken on the play in your handwriting - not typewritten – will probably be allowed to be used in
class during discussion and/or testing.