Assignment for AP Language and Composition
This packet consists of the following:
1. Introduction—Please read this summary of the novel’s introduction before you begin reading the novel. After you are familiar with why Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter, you are ready to begin reading. (PLEASE NOTE: Chapter One begins
on page 73, after the Preface titled “The Custom House.”)
2. Quote Explanation / Analysis grid—Please provide explanations for each quote; this assignment will be due the second
week of school.
3. Make sure you check out a copy of the novel from the media center June 1-5.
The Custom House Introductory Information Summarized ….. (taken from Spark Notes).
This introduction provides a frame for the main narrative of The Scarlet
Letter. The nameless narrator, who shares quite a few traits with the book’s
author, takes a post as the “chief executive officer,” or surveyor, of the Salem
Custom House. (“Customs” are the taxes paid on foreign imports into a country; a “customhouse” is the building where these taxes are paid.) He finds the
establishment to be a run-down place, situated on a rotting wharf in a halffinished building. His fellow workers mostly hold lifetime appointments secured
by family connections. They are elderly and given to telling the same stories
repeatedly. The narrator finds them to be generally incompetent and innocuously corrupt.
The narrator spends his days at the customhouse trying to amuse himself because few ships come to Salem anymore. One rainy day he discovers
some documents in the building’s unoccupied second story. Looking through
the pile, he notices a manuscript that is bundled with a scarlet, goldembroidered piece of cloth in the shape of the letter “A.” The narrator examines the scarlet badge and holds it briefly to his chest, but he drops it because
it seems to burn him. He then reads the manuscript. It is the work of one Jonathan Pue, who was a customs surveyor a hundred years earlier. An interest in
local history led Pue to write an account of events taking place in the middle of
the seventeenth century—a century before Pue’s time and two hundred years
before the narrator’s.
The narrator has already mentioned his unease about attempting to make a
career out of writing. He believes that his Puritan ancestors, whom he holds in
high regard, would find it frivolous and “degenerate.” Nevertheless, he decides
to write a fictional account of Hester Prynne’s experiences. It will not be factually precise, but he believes that it will be faithful to the spirit and general outline of the original. While working at the customhouse, surrounded by uninspiring men, the narrator finds himself unable to write. When a new president is
elected, he loses his politically appointed job and, settling down before a dim
fire in his parlor, begins to write his “romance,” which becomes the body of The
Scarlet Letter.
Analysis
This section introduces us to the narrator and establishes his desire to
contribute to American culture. Although this narrator seems to have much in
common with Nathaniel Hawthorne himself—Hawthorne also worked as a customs officer, lost his job due to political changes, and had Puritan ancestors
whose legacy he considered both a blessing and a curse—it is important not to
conflate the two storytellers. The narrator is not just a stand-in for Hawthorne;
he is carefully constructed to enhance the book aesthetically and philosophically. Moreover, Hawthorne sets him up to parallel Hester Prynne in significant
ways. Like Hester, the narrator spends his days surrounded by people from
whom he feels alienated. In his case, it is his relative youth and vitality that separates him from the career customs officers. Hester’s youthful zest for life may
have indirectly caused her alienation as well, spurring her to her sin. Similarly,
like Hester, the narrator seeks out the “few who will understand him,” and it is
to this select group that he addresses both his own story and the tale of the
scarlet letter. The narrator points out the connection between Hester and himself when he notes that he will someday be reduced to a name on a custom
stamp, much as she has been reduced to a pile of old papers and a scrap of
cloth. The narrator’s identification with Hester enables the reader to universalize her story and to see its application to another society.
Despite his devotion to Hester’s story, the narrator has trouble writing
it. First, he feels that his Puritan ancestors would find it frivolous, and indeed he
is not able to write until he has been relieved of any real career responsibilities.
Second, he knows that his audience will be small, mostly because he is relating
events that happened some two hundred years ago. His time spent in the company of the other customhouse men has taught the narrator that it will be difficult to write in such a way as to make his story accessible to all types of people—particularly to those no longer young at heart. But he regards it as part of
his challenge to try to tell Hester’s story in a way that makes it both meaningful
and emotionally affecting to all readers. His last step in preparing to write is to
stop battling the “real world” of work and small-mindedness and to give himself
up to the “romance” atmosphere of his story.
The narrator finds writing therapeutic. Contrary to his Puritan ancestors’ assertions, he also discovers it to be practical: his introduction provides a
cogent discourse on American history and culture. Hawthorne wrote at a time
when America sought to distinguish itself from centuries of European tradition
by producing uniquely “American” writers—those who, like Hawthorne, would
encourage patriotism by enlarging the world’s sense of America’s comparatively brief history.
Yet Hawthorne, like the narrator, had to balance the need to establish a weighty
past with the equally compelling need to write an interesting and relevant story.
Neither the narrator nor Hawthorne wants to see his work pigeonholed as “only”
American. Americanness remains both a promise and a threat, just as the eagle over the customhouse door both offers shelter and appears ready to attack.
The tale of the scarlet letter may add to the legitimacy of American history and
culture, but in order to do so it must transcend its Americanness and establish
a universal appeal: only then can American culture hold its own in the world.
Hester’s story comes to us twice removed. It is filtered first through John Pue
and then through the narrator. Awareness of the story’s various stages of treatment gives the reader a greater sense of its remoteness from contemporary
life, of its antique qualities—it is a history with a history. Yet the story’s survival
over the years speaks to the profundity of its themes: the narrator has found, in
American history and in Hester’s life, a tale rich in philosophical meaning.
READING RESPONSES—The SCARLET LETTER, by Nathaniel Hawthorne | AP Language and Composition Summer Reading Assignment
Read each quote and then provide an explanation as to the effectiveness of that quote. Ask yourself, what is Hawthorne trying to accomplish?
How does the quote enhance the theme, tone, characterization, etc.? (The first few have been done for you to give you an idea of how to respond
to each quote.)
Score ___________ / 60
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter One: “A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray,
steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and
other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of
which was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes.”
Diction (word choice)
Chapter One: “This rosebush, ….. Had sprung up under the footsteps of the
sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison door—we shall not take
upon us to determine.”
Allusion (historical
reference that adds
meaning to the text)
Tone
Tone, Symbol
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction,
etc.)
The words “sad-colored,” gray,” “iron spikes” give a somber feeling to
the opening paragraph of the novel setting the stage for what is to
come.
Hutchinson was a historical figure who organized Puritan religious
gatherings against the wishes of Puritan leaders. She was banished to
Rhode Island for her behaviors; today, she is thought to be an independent, strong woman and somewhat revered for her actions.
Chapter Two: “Goodwives,” said a hard-featured dame of fifty, “I’ll tell ye a
Dialogue
piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women,
Characterization
being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the
handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a
knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful
magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!”
The judgmental nature of the older women is evident in this quote.
Her Puritanical response demonstrates an unforgiving attitude towards sin. She feels Hester’s punishment is light and should be something more severe.
Chapter Two: “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance,
on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off
the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from
regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. She was lady-like, too, after
the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain
state and dignity …”
Diction
The words “perfect elegance, dark and abundant hair, glossy, sunshine, gleam, perfect complexion, black eyes,” etc. portray Hester as
beautiful. Hawthorne approves of his heroine. His use of elegant diction prove that he likes Hester.
“O, peace, neighbours, peace!” whispered their youngest companion. “Do
not let her hear you! Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt
it in her heart.”
Dialogue
Tone
What is Hawthorne’s
attitude toward Hester?
Characterization
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter 3: A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake
Simile
gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed
Characterization
intervolutions in open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion,
which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, Foreshadowing
that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness.
Chapter 3: It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should
Ananphora
not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. But he will be known!—he will (repetition)
be known!—he will be known!”
Theme
Chapter 4: “Why dost thou smile so at me?” inquired Hester, troubled at the
expression of his eyes. “Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest
round about us? Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of
my soul?”
Simile
Repetition
Rhetorical Question
“Not thy soul,” he answered, with another smile. “No, not thine!”
Chapter 5: Her needle-work was seen on the ruff of the Governor; military
men wore it on their scarfs, and the minister on his band; it decked the baby’s little cap; it was shut up, to be mildewed and moulder away, in the
coffins of the dead. But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill
was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure
blushes of a bride.
Juxtaposition /
Contrast
Chapter 5: Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches Characterization
less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that
Theme
fed them. Much of the time, which she might readily have applied to the
Diction
better efforts of her art, she employed in making coarse garments for the
poor.
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction, etc.)
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter 6: But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price,—
purchased with all she had,—her mother’s only treasure!
Allusion
Characterization
Chapter 6: So magnificent was the small figure, when thus arrayed, and such Characterization
was the splendor of Pearl’s own proper beauty, shining through the gorgeous
Diction
robes which might have extinguished a paler loveliness, that there was an
Contrast
absolute circle of radiance around her, on the darksome cottage-floor. And
yet a russet gown, torn and soiled with the child’s rude play, made a picture
of her just as perfect.
Chapter 6: Whenever that look appeared in her wild, bright, deeply black
eyes, it invested her with a strange remoteness and intangibility; it was as if
she were hovering in the air and might vanish, like a glimmering light that
comes we know not whence, and goes we know not whither. Beholding it,
Hester was constrained to rush towards the child,—to pursue the little elf in
the flight which she invariably began,—to snatch her to her bosom, with a
close pressure and earnest kisses,—not so much from overflowing love, as to
assure herself that Pearl was flesh and blood, and not utterly delusive.
Simile / Metaphor
Characterization
Imagery
Chapter 6: All this enmity and passion had Pearl inherited, by inalienable
Alliteration / Mood
right, out of Hester’s heart. Mother and daughter stood together in the same
Theme
circle of seclusion from human society; and in the nature of the child seemed
to be perpetuated those unquiet elements that had distracted Hester Prynne Puritan Ideals
before Pearl’s birth, but had since begun to be soothed away by the softening influences of maternity.
Chapter 8: Old Roger Chillingworth, with a smile on his face, whispered some- Diction /
thing in the young clergyman’s ear. Hester Prynne looked at the man of skill,
Characterization
and even then, with her fate hanging in the balance, was startled to perceive
Theme
what a change had come over his features,—how much uglier they were,—
how his dark complexion seemed to have grown duskier, and his figure more
misshapen,—since the days when she had familiarly known him.
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction, etc.)
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter 6: But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price,—
purchased with all she had,—her mother’s only treasure!
Allusion
Characterization
Chapter 6: So magnificent was the small figure, when thus arrayed, and such Characterization
was the splendor of Pearl’s own proper beauty, shining through the gorgeous
Diction
robes which might have extinguished a paler loveliness, that there was an
absolute circle of radiance around her, on the darksome cottage-floor. And
yet a russet gown, torn and soiled with the child’s rude play, made a picture
of her just as perfect.
Chapter 6: Whenever that look appeared in her wild, bright, deeply black
eyes, it invested her with a strange remoteness and intangibility; it was as if
she were hovering in the air and might vanish, like a glimmering light that
comes we know not whence, and goes we know not whither. Beholding it,
Hester was constrained to rush towards the child,—to pursue the little elf in
the flight which she invariably began,—to snatch her to her bosom, with a
close pressure and earnest kisses,—not so much from overflowing love, as to
assure herself that Pearl was flesh and blood, and not utterly delusive.
Simile / Metaphor
Imagery
Chapter 6: All this enmity and passion had Pearl inherited, by inalienable
Alliteration / Mood
right, out of Hester’s heart. Mother and daughter stood together in the same
Characterization
circle of seclusion from human society; and in the nature of the child seemed
to be perpetuated those unquiet elements that had distracted Hester Prynne
before Pearl’s birth, but had since begun to be soothed away by the softening influences of maternity.
Chapter 8: Old Roger Chillingworth, with a smile on his face, whispered some- Diction /
thing in the young clergyman’s ear. Hester Prynne looked at the man of skill,
Characterization
and even then, with her fate hanging in the balance, was startled to perceive
Theme (effects of sin)
what a change had come over his features,—how much uglier they were,—
how his dark complexion seemed to have grown duskier, and his figure more
misshapen,—since the days when she had familiarly known him.
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction, etc.)
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter 8: Hester Prynne’s situation had provoked her to little less than mad- Characterization
ness, the young minister at once came forward, pale, and holding his hand
Theme
over his heart, as was his custom whenever his peculiarly nervous temperament was thrown into agitation. He looked now more careworn and emaciated than as we described him at the scene of Hester’s public ignominy; and
whether it were his failing health, or whatever the cause might be, his large
dark eyes had a world of pain in their troubled and melancholy depth.
Chapter 9: His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet,
Theme
had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed, on
Characterization
any slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart, with
Diction
first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain.
Chapter 9: Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, like many other personages of esCharacterization
pecial sanctity, in all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan
Diction
himself, or Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth. This diabolical agent had the Divine permission, for a season, to burrow into the clergyman’s intimacy, and plot against his soul.
Chapter 10: “Even in the grave-yard, here at hand,” answered the physician, Theme (effects of sin)
continuing his employment. “They are new to me. I found them growing on a
Characterization
grave, which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial of the dead man, save
these ugly weeds that have taken upon themselves to keep him in remembrance. They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret
that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his
lifetime.”
Chapter 10: Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his
ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself,
when a precious human soul is lost to Heaven, and won into his kingdom.
Characterization
Theme (revenge)
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction, etc.)
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter 12: “Thou wast not bold!—thou wast not true!” answered the child.
“Thou wouldst not promise to take my hand, and mother’s hand, to-morrow
noontide!”
Repetition
Theme (hypocrisy)
Chapter 13: Hester’s nature showed itself warm and rich; a well-spring of
Characterization
human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand, and inexhaustible by the
Symbol
largest. Her breast, with its badge of shame, was but the softer pillow for the
Metaphor
head that needed one. She was self-ordained a Sister of Mercy; or, we may
rather say, the world’s heavy hand had so ordained her, when neither the
world nor she looked forward to this result. The letter was the symbol of her
calling. Such helpfulness was found in her,—so much power to do, and power
to sympathize,—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its
original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester
Prynne, with a woman’s strength.
Chapter 14: “And I thee,” answered Hester Prynne, “for the hatred that has
Characterization
transformed a wise and just man to a fiend! Wilt thou yet purge it out of
Theme (Revenge)
thee, and be once more human? If not for his sake, then doubly for thine
own! Forgive, and leave his further retribution to the Power that claims it! I
said, but now, that there could be no good event for him, or thee, or me, who
are here wandering together in this gloomy maze of evil, and stumbling, at
every step, over the guilt wherewith we have strewn our path. It is not so!
There might be good for thee, and thee alone, since thou hast been deeply
wronged, and hast it at thy will to pardon. Wilt thou give up that only privilege? Wilt thou reject that priceless benefit?”
Chapter 15: Did the sun, which shone so brightly everywhere else, really fall
upon him? Or was there, as it rather seemed, a circle of ominous shadow
moving along with his deformity, whichever way he turned himself? And
whither was he now going? Would he not suddenly sink into the earth, leaving a barren and blasted spot, where, in due course of time, would be seen
deadly nightshade, dogwood, henbane, and whatever else of vegetable wickedness the climate could produce, all flourishing with hideous luxuriance?
Diction /
Characterization /
Oxymoron
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction, etc.)
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter 16: But the brook, in the course of its little lifetime among the forest- Metaphor
trees, had gone through so solemn an experience that it could not help talkDiction
ing about it, and seemed to have nothing else to say. Pearl resembled the
brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as myste- Characterization
rious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom. But,
unlike the little stream, she danced and sparkled, and prattled airily along her
course.
Chapter 16: He looked haggard and feeble, and betrayed a nerveless deCharacterization
spondency in his air, which had never so remarkably characterized him in his
Theme (effects of sin)
walks about the settlement, nor in any other situation where he deemed himself liable to notice. Here it was wofully visible, in this intense seclusion of the Diction
forest, which of itself would have been a heavy trial to the spirits. There was a
listlessness in his gait; as if he saw no reason for taking one step farther, nor
felt any desire to do so, but would have been glad, could he be glad of any
thing, to fling himself down at the root of the nearest tree, and lie there passive for evermore.
Chapter 18: All at once, as with a sudden smile of Heaven, forth burst the sun- Imagery
shine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green
Figurative Language
leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray
Personification
trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had made a shadow hitherto,
embodied the brightness now. The course of the little brook might be traced
by its merry gleam afar into the wood’s heart of mystery, which had become a
mystery of joy.
Chapter 18: Such was the sympathy of Nature—that wild, heathen Nature of Personification
the forest, never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth—
Imagery
with the bliss of these two spirits! Love, whether newly born, or aroused from
a deathlike slumber, must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of (Romanticism at work)
radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world. Had the forest still kept
its gloom, it would have been bright in Hester’s eyes, and bright in Arthur
Dimmesdale’s!
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction, etc.)
Quote from the Novel
Rhetorical Device
(more than one device
may be at work.)
Chapter 19: Pearl broke from her mother, and, running to the brook, stooped Characterization
over it, and bathed her forehead, until the unwelcome kiss was quite washed
Theme
off, and diffused through a long lapse of the gliding water. She then remained
apart, silently watching Hester and the clergyman; while they talked together, and made such arrangements as were suggested by their new position,
and the purposes soon to be fulfilled.
Chapter 20: No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to
which may be the true.
Theme (hypocrisy)
Chapter 23: Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, Theme
in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as
Paradox
her tears fell upon her father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would
grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world,
but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl’s errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled.
Chapter 24: Among many morals which press upon us from the poor minister’s miserable experience, we put only this into a sentence:—“Be true! Be
true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait
whereby the worst may be inferred!”
Anaphora (repetition)
Theme
Explanation: What is the effect of that device? Why is it important? What ideas come to mind. (Connotation, Diction,
etc.)