Group+Six

Maddy Fein Jess Badia Rebecca Ehrlich Katie McLaughlin


 * Chapters 1-3**
 * __Imagery or Symbolism:__
 * Rose Bush next to prison door- The prison symbolizes the evil and sins of people and the rose bush contrasts this by symbolizing everyone’s’ good in life.
 * __Character Behavior or Psychology:__
 * Hester Prynne is sophisticated because she walked up to the townspeople with the letter A on her clothing because she was not shameful of what she had done. She did not reveal the father of the child. Since the reason for this is unknown, this can foreshadow what will happen in the story alter on. Prynne held her baby close to her chest not out of affection, but to hide it and herself from shame.
 * __Interesting Passages__:
 * Page 40- “This rose-bush, by a strange…of human frailty and sorrow.” This passage is interesting and important because, as mentioned before, the entire first chapter talks about how miserable prison looks. Then this paragraph talks about the beautiful rose bush next to the door and we believe this rose bush symbolizes the good in people’s lives.
 * Page 44- “When the young woman…regulations of the colony.” This paragraph describes when Hester Prynne brings her baby closer to her chest. Also mentioned before, we think it is to hide the baby from shame.
 * Page 52- “It irks me…he will be known!” This is important because the stranger is saying that he believes the man plays a large role in this crime and should be punished too. This relates to page 57 when Hester refuses to tell who the man is. The stranger is right because Hester should not be the only person who has to go through the punishment.
 * __Question or Predictions:__
 * Questions
 * Why did the husband never come back to Hester and why is he here at the exact time that Hester is being punished? In other words, why is the husband here now?
 * Why is Hester refusing to tell who the father is?
 * Predictions
 * We think the person she committed the crime with is married and that if she reveals who it is she will get an even greater punishment.
 * We think Hester Prynne made the letter “A” so decorative to show that she is not shamed
 * __Connections:__
 * In the __Scarlet Letter__ the only proof they have of the crime is that she had a baby. In the “Death by Stoning” article, the woman was convicted of a crime just because she had a baby. Both stories are closely related because they only proof there is that each had a baby, but nothing else is known for sure


 * Chapters 7-10**
 * __Imagery or Symbolism:__
 * Hester dresses Pearl like the scarlet letter, which symbolizes that Pearl is the daughter of a sin.
 * Roger Chillingworth is given the nickname “the leech,” because he was both sucking the life and secrets out of Dimmesdale and he is also helping himself get closer to revenge.
 * __Character Behavior or Psychology:__
 * Roger Chillingworth has been portrayed as evil because of his demeanor. Revenge is turning him ugly.
 * Pearl acted badly and did not want to answer any of the questions asked of her. She then changed her attitude, answered the questions, and showed affection towards the minister, which might be foreshadowing that he truly is her father.
 * __Interesting Passages:__
 * Page 98- “Pearl, the wild and flighty little elf… laid her cheek against it.” Pearl places her head against the hand of the minister and shows affection towards him, which she has not done before for anyone.
 * Page 119- “The physician advanced directly in front of… Satan’s was the trait of wonder in it!” This suspenseful scene shows that Chillingworth has found something that can prove the minister to be Hester’s lover. What was found was not said.
 * __Questions and Predictions:__
 * Questions
 * What did Chillingworth find on Dimmesdale’s chest?
 * Why does Pearl only show sympathy towards Dimmesdale?
 * Predictions
 * We think that Chillingworth found a scarlet letter “A,” which proves Dimmesdale to be Hester’s lover.
 * She may have a connection to him because he might be her father.
 * __Connections:__
 * Many people say that children have special connections to their parents, which explains why Pearl would explain why she showed sympathy towards Dimmesdale if he truly is her father. Even though she does not know whether or not he is her father, she feels a special connection to him.
 * At times, authorities believe that children need to be separated from their parents in order to help them succeed in life. If parents are not seen fit to care for their children, Social Services may go into their houses and remove the children from the particular living situation that they should not be in. This is related to what happened to Hester and Pearl, because the authorities of the town they live in attempted to remove Pearl from the care of Hester. This was due to their belief that Hester was not raising Pearl with the right morals.

Chapters 11-13


 * __Page 271 Question #16__


 * a.) The significance of Dimmesdale's "vigil" taking place at night is to show that he is not as strong as Hester, since she was forced to stand on the scaffold in front of everyone during the day, while he hides in the darkness of the night to stand alone.
 * b.) The light brings forth the bad that has happened in the novel, making previous events seem darker and more intense than they had when they first happens. The light and dark seem to blur together at times, which adds to the controversy between the two.
 * c.) Dimmesdale's attempts to call out to the Governor from the scaffold did not succeed, which shows that he wants to call out for help but it isn't working. He is almost at the point where he can work for help, but he cannot come to totally accept the truth. People heard him calling out, but they decided to ignore him instead of going out to see what was happening.
 * d.) While on the scaffold, Dimmesdale experienced a sharp chest pain linking him to Hester and the Scarlet letter on her chest.
 * e.) If you look at the questions above, all of the questions are related to him standing on the scaffold. All of these feelings manifested themselves while he is on the scaffold because of his regret for not speaking out about what happened between him and Hester.
 * f.) The punishment and the sin connected Pearl, Hester and Dimmesdale because it brought them to where they all should have been punished together seven years ago.


 * __Questions and Predictions:__
 * Since everyone is interpreting the "A" on Hester's chest as "Able", Dimmesdale will be shunned more because Hester has become acceptable to the public eye. Dimmesdale on the other hand, is a minister and he never spoke out about what happened seven years ago.
 * The meteor shower appeared as an "A", leading the towns people to interpret it to mean "Angel" for the man who died, however we feel that the A-shaped meteor symbolizes the two adulterer's coming together.

chapter 14-16


 * __Imagery or Symbolism__
 * Pearl made her own “A” out of sea grass, which means she still looks up to her mother despite the sins of her past.
 * Pearl symbolizes Dimmesdale because he waited seven years until he had enough courage to reveal his true identity and pearl waited seven years to ask her mother what the scarlet letter meant.
 * It is significant that it has been seven years because seven is a holy number.
 * __Character Behavior or Psychology__
 * Pearl is fascinated by the scarlet letter even though she doesn’t know the true meaning of it, and she won’t leave Hester alone until she explains its meaning.
 * Chillingworth has been so caught up with having revenge on Dimmesdale and Hester over the past seven years that he has become evil.
 * __Interesting Passages__
 * P. 161- “’Mother,’ said little pearl… ‘It will soon be gone.’” Pearl believes that the light runs away from Hester in order to leave Hester in the dark because she has sinned, ad the light knows that because of her scarlet letter.
 * __Questions and Predictions__
 * Are they going to let Hester remove their scarlet letter, and will she change her mind about taking it off?
 * Will Dimmesdale reveal his secret?
 * We predict that Dimmesdale will reveal himself.
 * Hester will be allowed to remove the letter but she wont want to.
 * __Connections__
 * Many children copy what their parents do and wear because they look up to them. Sometimes little girls wear high heels and put on make-up in order to look like their moms. This is similar to what Pearl is doing. She makes an “A” for herself, even though she does not know the true meaning of it, which does not matter to her. She does not care what it means, because as long as her mother wears her “A,” Pearl will be fascinated by it. She wants to be like her mother in every way possible.


 * Chapters 17-21**
 * Imagery or Symbolism-
 * The reason the scarlet letter did not land in the creek is because even though Hester was nto wearing it anymore, the sin still lived and it would never leave her.
 * Character Behavior
 * Hester took off the Scarlet letter and put it in the woods because she was not ashamed of what she had done anymore, but she wanted to leave that part of her life behind.
 * __I__nteresting Passages-
 * The passage that describes Pearl's tantrum when Hester took of the scarlet letter is interesting because it shows that Pearl symbolizes the sin in Hester and Dimmesdale's eyes, but in Pearl's eyes she does not symbol anything, the scarlet letter does.
 * Questions or Predictions-
 * What will Hester do now that she knows Chillingworth is on the same ship as them to Europe?
 * I think Hester and Dimmesdale are going to go on the ship and try and work things out with Chillingworth.
 * Connections
 * Hester leaving her sin and fleeing to Europe is kind of like Tiger Woods. After the nation found out about his sins, he left and didn't tell anyone and then came back several weeks later. Hester and Dimmesdale and Pearl are trying to leave and not tell anyone, which is why it is surprising Chillingworth knew.

Chapters 22-24 Imagery or symbolism:
 * The “A” on Dimmesdale’s chest symbolizes that secret that he has lived with for the past seven years. Hester was hurt emotionally with the “A” by the public, but Dimmesdale did not go through that pain because he kept his sin a secret, which is why he was forced to live with the physical pain that the “A” inflicted on him.

Character Behavior:
 * Pearl hugs and kisses Dimmesdale after he called to them because she was glad that he finally chose to be seen with her and her mother in public. She also is drawn to the “A” that was on his chest.

Interesting Passages:
 * The passage when Dimmesdale called to Hester and Pearl to go onto the scaffold with him was extremely important because it was the climax. Dimmesdale finally chose to be in public with them, and he owned up to his sin in front of everyone.

Questions or Predictions:
 * How did the “A” get onto Dimmesdale’s chest?
 * He branded himself with the “A” in order to suffer just as Hester suffered.
 * What will happen to Pearl now that she knows about Dimmesdale?
 * She will be set free from the curse she was under, and she will live happily and learn from her parents sins.

Connections:
 * When a sin is committed between two people, remorse and guilt is usually shown. In the story the guilt that Hester and Dimmesdale feel hurt them both physically and emotionally, which happens in many real-life situations. When people hurt themselves it is usually because they feel badly about something.