GRADE 11
Summer Reading 2015
East Hill Christian School
Novel: The Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
For this assignment to be beneficial, summer reading should take place over the course
of the summer. The books chosen will stir the imagination and will keep the gift of
reading alive. Summer lends itself to many other fun activities like movies, music, video
games, and social media which can occupy a student’s time and attention. To sit and
read a book can reap so many rewards if it is intentional and planned out. Rather than
reading CliffsNotes, SparkNotes, etc. and/or watching a movie version of the book,
students should read the unabridged text to receive maximum benefit.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS: All work should be turned in on the first day of school to
the English teacher. The summer reading answers should be typed. Please follow the
numbering sequence for each chapter and keep all answers succinct. The questions do
not need to be re-typed on the answer sheet. All work should be placed in a folder with
the student’s name and grade level on the outside. A grade will be given on the summer
reading project that will be made up of the answers portion as well as a quiz or test
during the first week of school.
For questions about the summer reading project, please call the school office at
850.438.7746 or email Mrs. Kelly at l_kelly@ehcseagles.com.
NOTE: Students may skip the beginning chapter entitled “The Custom-House.” The
study begins with Chapter One. Some of the questions under ‘Elements of the Novel’
may need to be answered after the book has been read.
Elements of the Novel- Answer the following questions.
1. Setting: Give the time and place of the story including the geographical location,
city and state, and historical period and decade.
2. Plot: the three scaffold scenes generate the plot. It is imperative to
understanding the novel that the students really understand these scenes.
Please provide one paragraph of detail for each of the scaffold scenes. Be sure
to include all the people present and the significance of the things seen around
the scaffold and especially what happens at the end of the novel on the last
scaffold scene.
3. Protagonist: Who is the main protagonist?
4. Antagonist: Who is the antagonist working against almost every character in
the story?
5. Point of View: What is the perspective from which the story is told? (First
person point of view, third person, omniscient point of view)
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6. Theme: What is the life lesson or moral the story teaches? Remember you will
not be able to answer this question until you finish reading the novel.
7. Irony: Irony involves a contrast between what would normally be expected and
what actually happens.
Verbal Irony—when someone says one thing, but really means something else.
Example: “Pious Master Dimmesdale!”—Chillingworth to Dimmesdale the night
of the minister’s vigil. Explain the real feelings of Chillingworth toward
Dimmesdale that makes this passage ironic.
Dramatic Irony—when a character thinks one thing is true, and the audience or
readers know better. Example: Dimmesdale’s plea to Hester in Chapter III to
name her fellow sinner. Explain, with information you now have as a reader, the
irony of this passage.
Situational Irony—when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to
happen, or what is appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.
Example: The relationship of Chillingworth and Dimmesdale when Hester
encounters them at the Governor’s Hall in Chapter VII. Explain the discrepancy
between the expected relationship of these two men and what has actually
occurred.
8. Symbols: How do the townspeople come to interpret the scarlet letter differently
over time?
9. Symbol: What is the significance of the tapestries on the walls of Dimmesdale’s
room?
Chapters 1-3:
1. How are the goodwives of Boston portrayed while waiting for the prisoner to
emerge from the jail?
2. Who appears at the scaffold scene that really alarms Hester?
3. What is the woman’s punishment?
Chapters 4-8
1. Why does Hester hesitate to accept his help when Chillingworth offers a
medicine to ease Pearl’s pain?
2. How does Hawthorne create sympathy for Chillingworth?
3. Why does Hester name her child “Pearl”?
4. Why does Hester not make as much money as she could?
5. Why do some people want Pearl taken away from Hester?
Chapters 9-11
1. What is ironic about the reason some people give for Dimmesdale’s decline?
2. How has Chillingworth changed since his arrival to Boston?
3. Why does Chillingworth say he has been unable to cure Dimmesdale?
4. What does Chillingworth see on Dimmesdale’s chest?
Chapter 12
1. How does Hawthorne show the conflict between Dimmesdale’s fear of discovery
and his desire to confess?
2. Why do Governor Bellingham and his sister not see Dimmesdale when they look
out of their window?
3. Did the comet actually form the letter A?
4. What excuse does Chillingworth use to explain the weird behavior of
Dimmesdale?
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Chapters 13-16
1. How do we know that the scarlet letter has not yet turned Hester from sin?
2. Why does Chillingworth refuse Hester’s pleas to drop his hate and become
human again?
3. Why can Pearl catch the sunshine, but Hester cannot?
Chapters 17-19
1. What does Hester say about her vow to Chillingworth that applies to
Dimmesdale’s situation as well?
2. Why do Hester and Dimmesdale not want to part?
3. How does Hester explain Pearl’s refusal to come to her?
Chapters 20-22
1. Why is Dimmesdale so sorely tempted to yield to sin?
2. After he is greeted cordially by Mistress Hibbins, what does Dimmesdale fear?
Chapter 23
1. In what ways does Dimmesdale’s spiritual triumph undermine his worldly
triumph?
2. Where else could Dimmesdale escape Chillingworth?
3. Why is the scaffold necessary for Dimmesdale’s victory?
4. Does Hester agree that Dimmesdale has done the right thing? What does she
say to him that tells the readers the answer?
Chapter 24
1. Why would Chillingworth leave his property to the daughter of the man he hated?
2. Why does Hester return to Boston?
3. Why are Dimmesdale and Hester prohibited from being buried together?
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