honors english 11 summer reading assignment
HONORS ENGLISH 11 SUMMER READING ASSIGNMENT EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL 2017-2018 Honors English 11 students must read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Students are responsible for reading The Scarlet Letter chapters 1 through 24; however, I have attached a summary of the book introduction entitled CUSTOM HOUSE which may be read in place of the actual book preface/introduction. Students should answer the attached study guide questions as they read. These will be due on the first day of class.
During the first few weeks of class, students will be expected to participate in class discussion and given a test over the summer reading. Students should also choose one of the following activities to complete within the first few weeks of school. Honors English 11
The Scarlet Letter Project – 100 Points Choose ONE of the following projects to complete and present. Remember that the purpose of the project is to demonstrate an understanding of the novel. All projects will be graded according to effort and creativity, but most importantly, knowledge and understanding of the novel. The project must be presented on one of the assigned days. 1. Imagine The Scarlet Letter as a modern movie. Create a 10 song soundtrack for the movie by recording existing songs and designating them for particular characters, themes, or scenes from the novel. Include a leaflet or list of song titles, performers, etc. that could serve as the CD cover. The leaflet and your reasons for choosing particular songs will be the basis of your grade. 2. Research Carl Jung’s philosophy regarding “the shadow” or the origin of evil in human beings. Apply what you learn to characters from The Scarlet Letter. Present your findings to the class with a visual aide. 3. Create an original board game that involves the themes, characters, symbols, and plot of The Scarlet Letter. Original means that you thought up the objective, the rules, the board, the pieces, etc. REMEMBER: you must show reading comprehension! Offer details that show knowledge of the plot and theme.
Summary of The Custom House 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 half-finished 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, gold-embroidered 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.
Name___________________________________________________Hour_____ The Scarlet Letter Chapters 1-3 1. What is the purpose of this chapter? What sort of story will it be? 2. What does the rosebush symbolize? 3. As the story opens, a throng is gathered. Who are they and why have they gathered in the market place? 4. For what sin is Hester Prynne being punished? How? What is the usual punishment for her crime? 5. Describe Hester. 5. Who is with Hester? 6. Judging from the conversations of the Puritan women, what are their conceptions about sin, morality, and punishment? 7. Describe the “stranger in the crowd” that catches Hester’s eye. Who is he? Where has he been? 8. What is Reverend Dimmesdale’s attitude toward Hester? What does he ask her to do? 9. What vow does “the stranger” make? 10. What attitude do you have toward Puritan society after reading the first three chapters? How did Puritan ideas about sin or crime and punishment differ from our ideas today? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 4-6 1. Who did the jailer summon to help little Pearl? Why was the baby so agitated? 2. Why is Hester afraid to drink what Chillingworth gives her? 3. Roger Chillingworth is an assumed name. What connotations does the name Chillingworth suggest? How is his behavior during the visit to Hester consistent with these connotations? 4. What apology does Chillingworth make? 5. What vow does Chillingworth make? 6. What does Chillingworth ask Hester to promise? Why? 7. When Hester leaves the prison, what does she have to look forward to? 8. Why doesn’t Hester simply leave town and pretend to be a widow with a child? 9. Where does Hester live? How does she make a living? Who was she not asked to work for, and why?
10. How does Hester dress? How does she dress Pearl?
11. How does Pearl’s life differ from other children in town? What do you think of the Puritan society’s treatment of Pearl? 12. What is symbolic about Pearl’s name? 13. Hawthorne repeatedly uses the words “imp” and “elf” to describe Pearl. In what ways are these words appropriate regarding her character and behavior? What does Hester believe about Pearl’s behavior?
14. How is Hester treated in town? Offer examples. 15. What insight does the letter seem to give Hester?
16. What is the first object of which Pearl became aware? 17. What do some of the townspeople say about Pearl’s paternity?
The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 7-9 1. What two purposes does Hester have for visiting the Governor’s mansion? 2. How does Pearl’s appearance shock people on the day she and her mother go to visit the governor? 3. What reasons do some of the townspeople give for wanting to take Pearl from Hester?
4. How does Pearl deal with Puritan children who ridicule them? 5. What bizarre illusion occurs when Hester is reflected in the suit of armor? 6. What men do Hester and Pearl meet at the Governor’s mansion? 7. What convinces the governor and Reverend Wilson that Pearl should be taken from Hester?
8. What does Hester tell the men? 9. Who speaks on Hester’s behalf? 10. How do Pearl and Reverend Dimmesdale react to one another?
11. Why is Roger Chillingworth a valuable addition to the town?
12. What is happening to Dimmesdale at this point?
13. A close association develops between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. Why does Chillingworth seek this association?
14. How had Chillingworth gained some of his knowledge of herbs? 15. What conclusion regarding Dimmesdale does Chillingworth reach? 16. What do some of the townspeople believe about Chillingworth? 17. Who do you think Pearl’s father is? Why? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 10-12 1. Summarize the conversation between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale.
2. How has Chillingworth’s original wish to see justice done changed? 3. What is Chilingworth’s explanation to Dimmesdale about his illness? What is Dimmesdale’s reaction?
4. What do you think Chillingworth sees when he looks under the sleeping Dimmesdales’ shirt? 5. How is Dimmesdale now at the mercy of Chillingworth? How does the minister feel about the physician? 6. How does Dimmesdale’s suffering make him more popular with his congregation? 7. What secret practices does the minister engage in as a result of the “immoral troubles that beset him? Why do you think he is doing this?
8. Where does Dimmesdale finally go one night? Who joins him? What appears in the sky?
9. Pearl, now seven, begins to display the quality of intuition. Offer examples that prove this.
10. What do you think made Chillingworth throw up his hands and stamp with joy?
11. Explain the theme of The Scarlet Letter. How is Chapter 11 significant to the development of the theme?
The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 13-15 1. Why was Hester able to “think for herself” more than other women in the town? 2. What changes have come about in Hester in the seven years since Pearl’s birth?
3. What conclusion does Hester reach about her promise to Chillingworth?
4. What reason does Hester give for not wanting to remove the scarlet letter?
5. What shocking changes does Hester realize have taken place in Chillingworth? How does she feel about these changes? 6. Hester asks Pearl if she knows what the scarlet letter means. How is Pearl’s answer disturbingly perceptive? 7. In view of Pearl’s precocity, what does Hester consider doing?
8. What does Hester finally tell Pearl is the reason for her wearing the letter? 9. Reread Chillingworth’s closing speech at the end of chapter 14. What is he really telling Hester? What do his religious beliefs seem to be?
10. Do you think Hester made a wise decision in not telling Pearl the truth about the scarlet letter at this point? Would she have understood? If she should not be told now, then at what age should she be told?
11. On the back, list the following symbols and what they mean: the scarlet letter, the scaffold, the forest, Reverend Wilson, Governor Bellingham, Mistress Hibbins, the color black, iron, sunshine and light
The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 16 - 18 1. Why does Hester plan to meet with Dimmesdale? 2. How does Pearl occupy herself while Hester speaks with Dimmesdale? 3. Explain the significance of the sunshine in this chapter. What does it symbolize?
4. To what does Hawthorne compare the walk in the forest? 5. What stories has Pearl heard about the Black Man? To whom is she referring? What is Hester’s answer to her queries?
6. What does the brook symbolize? 7. What does Dimmesdale say about penance and penitence in his life? Has he experienced atonement for his sin? 8. Describe Dimmesdale’s reaction to the news about Chillingworth. 9. What does Dimmesdale say is Chillingworth’s worst sin?
10. What decision do Hester and Dimmesdale make? 11. Once the decision is made, how does Dimmesdale feel?
12. How does Hester change as a result of the decision?
13. How does the forest symbolize the decision that has been made?
14. Why is it easier for Hester to leave Boston than it is for Dimmesdale? Consider the different perspectives of society that each has had in the past seven years.
15. Why is it fitting that Pearl feels so at home in the forest? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions Chapters 19-21 1. What is there about Pearl that caused Dimmesdale “many an alarm”?
2. What the cause of the estrangement between Pearl and her mother? What must Hester do to placate Pearl?
3. Describe the kisses that take place.
4. What specific plans do Hester and Dimmesdale make?
5. How does Dimmesdale feel as he returns to town?
6. What disturbing things does Dimmesdale feel like doing? What do these wicked impulses make Dimmesdale fear?
7. Who saw Dimmesdale in the forest? 8. Of what “sin” is Dimmesdale now guilty? 9. What is Dimmesdale’s new attitude toward Chillingworth?
10. What does Hester wish she could say in the market place?
11. What does Pearl ask about Reverend Dimmesdale? What is she told? What does this reveal about Dimmesdale’s character?
12. What disturbing news does the commander of the ship give Hester? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions Chapters 22-24 1. How does Hester feel as Dimmesdale passes by?
2. What does Mistress Hibbens say about Dimmesdale?
3. What is ironic about the scene in the square as Dimmesdale gives the Election Day speech?
4. What is Dimmesdale finally driven to do? How does this defeat Chillingworth?
5. What does Dimmesdale expose?
6. What does Dimmesdale ask for as he dies? 7. Explain what Pearl’s actions mean.
8. Whose sin is worst according to Hawthorne? Explain.
Students are responsible for reading The Scarlet Letter chapters 1 through 24; however, I have attached a summary of the book introduction entitled CUSTOM HOUSE which may be read in place of the actual book preface/introduction. Students should answer the attached study guide questions as they read. These will be due on the first day of class.
During the first few weeks of class, students will be expected to participate in class discussion and given a test over the summer reading. Students should also choose one of the following activities to complete within the first few weeks of school. Honors English 11
The Scarlet Letter Project – 100 Points Choose ONE of the following projects to complete and present. Remember that the purpose of the project is to demonstrate an understanding of the novel. All projects will be graded according to effort and creativity, but most importantly, knowledge and understanding of the novel. The project must be presented on one of the assigned days. 1. Imagine The Scarlet Letter as a modern movie. Create a 10 song soundtrack for the movie by recording existing songs and designating them for particular characters, themes, or scenes from the novel. Include a leaflet or list of song titles, performers, etc. that could serve as the CD cover. The leaflet and your reasons for choosing particular songs will be the basis of your grade. 2. Research Carl Jung’s philosophy regarding “the shadow” or the origin of evil in human beings. Apply what you learn to characters from The Scarlet Letter. Present your findings to the class with a visual aide. 3. Create an original board game that involves the themes, characters, symbols, and plot of The Scarlet Letter. Original means that you thought up the objective, the rules, the board, the pieces, etc. REMEMBER: you must show reading comprehension! Offer details that show knowledge of the plot and theme.
Summary of The Custom House 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 half-finished 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, gold-embroidered 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.
Name___________________________________________________Hour_____ The Scarlet Letter Chapters 1-3 1. What is the purpose of this chapter? What sort of story will it be? 2. What does the rosebush symbolize? 3. As the story opens, a throng is gathered. Who are they and why have they gathered in the market place? 4. For what sin is Hester Prynne being punished? How? What is the usual punishment for her crime? 5. Describe Hester. 5. Who is with Hester? 6. Judging from the conversations of the Puritan women, what are their conceptions about sin, morality, and punishment? 7. Describe the “stranger in the crowd” that catches Hester’s eye. Who is he? Where has he been? 8. What is Reverend Dimmesdale’s attitude toward Hester? What does he ask her to do? 9. What vow does “the stranger” make? 10. What attitude do you have toward Puritan society after reading the first three chapters? How did Puritan ideas about sin or crime and punishment differ from our ideas today? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 4-6 1. Who did the jailer summon to help little Pearl? Why was the baby so agitated? 2. Why is Hester afraid to drink what Chillingworth gives her? 3. Roger Chillingworth is an assumed name. What connotations does the name Chillingworth suggest? How is his behavior during the visit to Hester consistent with these connotations? 4. What apology does Chillingworth make? 5. What vow does Chillingworth make? 6. What does Chillingworth ask Hester to promise? Why? 7. When Hester leaves the prison, what does she have to look forward to? 8. Why doesn’t Hester simply leave town and pretend to be a widow with a child? 9. Where does Hester live? How does she make a living? Who was she not asked to work for, and why?
10. How does Hester dress? How does she dress Pearl?
11. How does Pearl’s life differ from other children in town? What do you think of the Puritan society’s treatment of Pearl? 12. What is symbolic about Pearl’s name? 13. Hawthorne repeatedly uses the words “imp” and “elf” to describe Pearl. In what ways are these words appropriate regarding her character and behavior? What does Hester believe about Pearl’s behavior?
14. How is Hester treated in town? Offer examples. 15. What insight does the letter seem to give Hester?
16. What is the first object of which Pearl became aware? 17. What do some of the townspeople say about Pearl’s paternity?
The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 7-9 1. What two purposes does Hester have for visiting the Governor’s mansion? 2. How does Pearl’s appearance shock people on the day she and her mother go to visit the governor? 3. What reasons do some of the townspeople give for wanting to take Pearl from Hester?
4. How does Pearl deal with Puritan children who ridicule them? 5. What bizarre illusion occurs when Hester is reflected in the suit of armor? 6. What men do Hester and Pearl meet at the Governor’s mansion? 7. What convinces the governor and Reverend Wilson that Pearl should be taken from Hester?
8. What does Hester tell the men? 9. Who speaks on Hester’s behalf? 10. How do Pearl and Reverend Dimmesdale react to one another?
11. Why is Roger Chillingworth a valuable addition to the town?
12. What is happening to Dimmesdale at this point?
13. A close association develops between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. Why does Chillingworth seek this association?
14. How had Chillingworth gained some of his knowledge of herbs? 15. What conclusion regarding Dimmesdale does Chillingworth reach? 16. What do some of the townspeople believe about Chillingworth? 17. Who do you think Pearl’s father is? Why? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 10-12 1. Summarize the conversation between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale.
2. How has Chillingworth’s original wish to see justice done changed? 3. What is Chilingworth’s explanation to Dimmesdale about his illness? What is Dimmesdale’s reaction?
4. What do you think Chillingworth sees when he looks under the sleeping Dimmesdales’ shirt? 5. How is Dimmesdale now at the mercy of Chillingworth? How does the minister feel about the physician? 6. How does Dimmesdale’s suffering make him more popular with his congregation? 7. What secret practices does the minister engage in as a result of the “immoral troubles that beset him? Why do you think he is doing this?
8. Where does Dimmesdale finally go one night? Who joins him? What appears in the sky?
9. Pearl, now seven, begins to display the quality of intuition. Offer examples that prove this.
10. What do you think made Chillingworth throw up his hands and stamp with joy?
11. Explain the theme of The Scarlet Letter. How is Chapter 11 significant to the development of the theme?
The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 13-15 1. Why was Hester able to “think for herself” more than other women in the town? 2. What changes have come about in Hester in the seven years since Pearl’s birth?
3. What conclusion does Hester reach about her promise to Chillingworth?
4. What reason does Hester give for not wanting to remove the scarlet letter?
5. What shocking changes does Hester realize have taken place in Chillingworth? How does she feel about these changes? 6. Hester asks Pearl if she knows what the scarlet letter means. How is Pearl’s answer disturbingly perceptive? 7. In view of Pearl’s precocity, what does Hester consider doing?
8. What does Hester finally tell Pearl is the reason for her wearing the letter? 9. Reread Chillingworth’s closing speech at the end of chapter 14. What is he really telling Hester? What do his religious beliefs seem to be?
10. Do you think Hester made a wise decision in not telling Pearl the truth about the scarlet letter at this point? Would she have understood? If she should not be told now, then at what age should she be told?
11. On the back, list the following symbols and what they mean: the scarlet letter, the scaffold, the forest, Reverend Wilson, Governor Bellingham, Mistress Hibbins, the color black, iron, sunshine and light
The Scarlet Letter Study Questions for Chapters 16 - 18 1. Why does Hester plan to meet with Dimmesdale? 2. How does Pearl occupy herself while Hester speaks with Dimmesdale? 3. Explain the significance of the sunshine in this chapter. What does it symbolize?
4. To what does Hawthorne compare the walk in the forest? 5. What stories has Pearl heard about the Black Man? To whom is she referring? What is Hester’s answer to her queries?
6. What does the brook symbolize? 7. What does Dimmesdale say about penance and penitence in his life? Has he experienced atonement for his sin? 8. Describe Dimmesdale’s reaction to the news about Chillingworth. 9. What does Dimmesdale say is Chillingworth’s worst sin?
10. What decision do Hester and Dimmesdale make? 11. Once the decision is made, how does Dimmesdale feel?
12. How does Hester change as a result of the decision?
13. How does the forest symbolize the decision that has been made?
14. Why is it easier for Hester to leave Boston than it is for Dimmesdale? Consider the different perspectives of society that each has had in the past seven years.
15. Why is it fitting that Pearl feels so at home in the forest? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions Chapters 19-21 1. What is there about Pearl that caused Dimmesdale “many an alarm”?
2. What the cause of the estrangement between Pearl and her mother? What must Hester do to placate Pearl?
3. Describe the kisses that take place.
4. What specific plans do Hester and Dimmesdale make?
5. How does Dimmesdale feel as he returns to town?
6. What disturbing things does Dimmesdale feel like doing? What do these wicked impulses make Dimmesdale fear?
7. Who saw Dimmesdale in the forest? 8. Of what “sin” is Dimmesdale now guilty? 9. What is Dimmesdale’s new attitude toward Chillingworth?
10. What does Hester wish she could say in the market place?
11. What does Pearl ask about Reverend Dimmesdale? What is she told? What does this reveal about Dimmesdale’s character?
12. What disturbing news does the commander of the ship give Hester? The Scarlet Letter Study Questions Chapters 22-24 1. How does Hester feel as Dimmesdale passes by?
2. What does Mistress Hibbens say about Dimmesdale?
3. What is ironic about the scene in the square as Dimmesdale gives the Election Day speech?
4. What is Dimmesdale finally driven to do? How does this defeat Chillingworth?
5. What does Dimmesdale expose?
6. What does Dimmesdale ask for as he dies? 7. Explain what Pearl’s actions mean.
8. Whose sin is worst according to Hawthorne? Explain.
