applied practice in · d. have each student develop a thesis statement. having each student write...

Applied Practice in

The Scarlet Letter PRE-AP*/AP*

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

RESOURCE GUIDE

*AP and SAT are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product. Pre-AP is a trademark owned by the College Entrance Examination Board.

©1998 by Applied Practice, Ltd., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 1998 by Applied Practice, Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of the Answer Key and Explanation portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the publisher.

Only the Student Practices portion of this publication may be reproduced in quantities limited to the size of an

individual teacher’s classroom. It is not permissible for multiple teachers to share a single Resource Guide.

Printed in the United States of America.

APPLIED PRACTICE Resource Guide

The Scarlet Letter Pre-AP*/AP* Version

Teacher Notes

A Note for Teachers.............................................................. 5

Teaching Resources

Strategies for Multiple-Choice Questions............................. 9

Strategies for Free-Response Questions ............................. 10

Glossary of Literary Terms................................................. 11

Vocabulary Lists by Passage .............................................. 19

Student Practices

Multiple-Choice Questions ................................................. 25

Free-Response Questions.................................................... 63

Answer Key and Explanations

Multiple-Choice Answer Key ............................................. 73

Multiple-Choice Answer Explanations............................... 77

Free-Response Scoring Guide............................................. 91

*Pre-AP and AP are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.

©1998 by Applied Practice, Ltd., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved.

Teacher Notes

for

The Scarlet Letter

A NOTE FOR TEACHERS

We hope you will find this Applied Practice booklet helpful as you work to prepare your students for the Advanced Placement Exams in English. As your students read the literary works covered in your curriculum, they will have the opportunity to practice and to develop those skills required on the exams. We offer a few suggestions and explanations to help you receive the maximum benefit from our materials.

1. Applied Practice booklets do not purport to duplicate exactly an Advanced Placement Examination. However, questions are modeled on those typically encountered on these exams. Thus, students using these materials will become familiar and comfortable with the format, question types, and terminology of Advanced Placement Examinations.

2. Because the passages chosen from the work vary in length, in some cases being longer or shorter than those typical of the Advanced Placement Exams, the multiple-choice sections of this booklet are not ideally administered in a timed situation. A teacher may certainly review the section and set a time he or she considers reasonable in his or her classroom. However, the multiple-choice sections were not written with specific time limits in mind.

3. A few multiple-choice questions assume a student's familiarity with the work up to the given passage. While such familiarity would not be assumed on an Advanced Placement Exam, it is appropriate for materials designed for use in a classroom setting.

4. The free-response questions do lend themselves to timing. As on an Advanced Placement Exam, students should be allotted approximately 40 minutes per essay.

5. The teacher should adapt this material to meet the needs of his or her own students and to suit his or her instructional strategies. An answer sheet for the multiple-choice section has not been included because methods for using these sections will vary. Each passage could be given on its own, or larger sections could be administered at intervals throughout the study of the work. Consecutive numbering of questions throughout the multiple-choice section allows for the use of mechanically scanned answer sheets.

6. Students should be given guidance in their early practices until they become familiar with terminology, format, and question types. Later, students can work more independently.

7. These materials are not designed to be used as tests of whether or not a student has read the work. The questions are rather designed to help train students in close reading analysis.

©1998 by Applied Practice, Ltd., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved. 5

8. The teacher might want to scan the terms used in the answer choices to make sure students are familiar with these terms.

Thank you for using Applied Practice materials in your classroom. We always welcome comments and suggestions.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Reproduction of individual worksheets from this booklet, excluding content intended solely for teacher use, is permissible by an individual teacher for use by his or her students in his or her own classroom. Content intended solely for teacher use may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise) without prior written permission from Applied Practice. Reproduction of any portion of this booklet for use by more than one teacher or for an entire grade level, school, or school system, is strictly prohibited. By using this booklet, you hereby agree to be bound by these copyright restrictions and acknowledge that by violating these restrictions, you may be liable for copyright infringement and/or subject to criminal prosecution.

6 ©1998 by Applied Practice, Ltd., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved.

Teaching Resources

for

The Scarlet Letter

STRATEGIES FOR MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

Below are some suggestions for using Applied Practice materials as you work to help your students develop mastery in answering multiple-choice questions. CLASS APPROACH: 1. Walk through the first close reading practice with the class:

a. Read the passage aloud b. Read the questions aloud, and discuss any terms or words that are unfamiliar c. Analyze exactly what the questions are asking; underline key terms or words d. Highlight or mark the part of the passage in which the answer might be found e. Discuss the right answer, including why it is a better choice than the others

2. Assign the next close reading passage as homework. The following day, put students

into small groups and have them compare answers. Each group must arrive at a consensus regarding the answers, so students will need to defend their choices by referring back to the text. After the groups have reached consensus, go over the correct answers and discuss any questions that posed difficulties for the students.

Repeat this activity on a regular basis to help the students become more proficient. 3. Have students keep track of the types of questions with which they have difficulty,

and see if a pattern emerges—for example, questions dealing with tone, terms, author’s attitude, meaning, etc.

4. Teach mini-lessons on problem areas. 5. Begin using the close reading selections as quizzes or tests. It is important to

remember that a student can score a “3” on the actual test if he or she answers 55-60% of the multiple-choice questions correctly. Teachers will probably want to

adjust any grading accordingly. 6. Challenge students to write their own questions over selected passages. After

students have become familiar with the format and level of difficulty of the questions, this activity, either individually or in groups, can increase their proficiency even more.

INDIVIDUAL APPROACH/INDEPENDENT STUDY:

Students may work through an Applied Practice test booklet on their own as they read the literature individually. They can check their own answers with the answer key and read the answer explanations provided in the teacher edition, conferring with the teacher as needed.


STRATEGIES FOR FREE-RESPONSE QUESTIONS

Below are some suggestions for using Applied Practice materials as you work to help your students develop mastery in answering free-response questions. CLASS APPROACH: 1. Walk through the first free-response question with the class:

a. Read the prompt aloud, and have students underline key words in the prompt. b. Discuss what specifically the question is asking students to address. c. For prompts that refer to literary or nonfiction passages

• Highlight/underline key parts of the passage that relate to the prompt • Write notes in the margins

d. Have each student develop a thesis statement. Having each student write his or her statement on the board and then discussing its strengths and weaknesses is a possible strategy.

e. Discuss a possible organization for the essay and, in the case of a prompt with a passage, which parts of the passage should be referred to in support of the thesis. Students might want to create an outline, diagram, or other organizer.

f. Ask students to write the actual essay. This can be un-timed in the early stages. g. Display some student essays on the overhead projector, or read aloud, and discuss

the essays’ strengths and weaknesses. h. Distribute a generic grading rubric, and discuss the rubric so that students

understand the grading criteria. i. Reanalyze the essays according to the rubric, and have students assign a score (0-

9) for each essay. 2. Hand out a sample College Board free-response question, sample student responses,

and a sample rubric, and discuss what constitutes a good response. 3. Assign a different free-response question for homework. The next day, put students

into small groups to read each other’s essays and rate them on the 0-9 scale. Have each group share its “best” essay and explain why they rated it the best. An alternate approach is to assign numbers to each student so that the authorship of each essay is anonymous, then distribute the essays at random among the groups.

4. Have students write in-class essays that are timed, perhaps beginning with longer

response times and gradually reducing the time limit to 40 minutes. 5. Have students keep all their essays and track their grades so that they can see their

progress and analyze their areas of strength and weakness. 6. Teach mini-lessons as needed to address areas of weakness and reinforce specific

skills, such as formulating a thesis, using examples and evidence, and organizing the essay.


GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS

absolute—a word free from limitations or qualifications (“best,” “all,” “unique,”

“perfect”) adage—a familiar proverb or wise saying ad hominem argument—an argument attacking an individual’s character rather than his

or her position on an issue allegory—a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions alliteration—the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words allusion—a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author

assumes the reader will recognize analogy—a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way anaphora—the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or

sentences anecdote—a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event antecedent—the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers antithesis—a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced aphorism—a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often

using rhyme or balance apostrophe—a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary

person, or some abstraction archetype—a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and

myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response

argument—a statement of the meaning or main point of a literary work asyndeton—a construction in which elements are presented in a series without

conjunctions


balanced sentence—a sentence in which words, phrases, or clauses are set off against each other to emphasize a contrast

bathos—insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity chiasmus—a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is

structurally reversed (“Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary”) cliché—an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off climax—the point of highest interest in a literary work colloquialism—informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing complex sentence—a sentence with one independent clause and at least one dependent

clause compound sentence—a sentence with two or more coordinate independent clauses, often

joined by one or more conjunctions conceit—a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor concrete details—details that relate to or describe actual, specific things or events connotation—the implied or associative meaning of a word cumulative sentence—a sentence in which the main independent clause is elaborated by

the successive addition of modifying clauses or phrases declarative sentence—a sentence that makes a statement or declaration deductive reasoning—reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general

principle and then applying that principle to a specific case (The sun rises every morning; therefore, the sun will rise on Tuesday morning.)

denotation—the literal meaning of a word dialect—a variety of speech characterized by its own particular grammar or

pronunciation, often associated with a particular geographical region dialogue—conversation between two or more people diction—the word choices made by a writer didactic—having the primary purpose of teaching or instructing


dilemma—a situation that requires a person to decide between two equally attractive or equally unattractive alternatives

dissonance—harsh, inharmonious, or discordant sounds elegy—a formal poem presenting a meditation on death or another solemn theme ellipsis—the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be

deduced from the context (“Some people prefer cats; others, dogs”). epic—a long narrative poem written in elevated style which presents the adventures of

characters of high position and episodes that are important to the history of a race or nation.

epigram—a brief, pithy, and often paradoxical saying epigraph—a saying or statement on the title page of a work, or used as a heading for a

chapter or other section of a work epiphany—a moment of sudden revelation or insight epitaph—an inscription on a tombstone or burial place epithet—a term used to point out a characteristic of a person. Homeric epithets are often

compound adjectives (“swift-footed Achilles”) that become an almost formulaic part of a name. Epithets can be abusive or offensive but are not so by definition. For example, athletes may be proud of their given epithets (“The Rocket”).

eulogy—a formal speech praising a person who has died euphemism—an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered

unpleasant exclamatory sentence—a sentence expressing strong feeling, usually punctuated with an

exclamation mark expletive—an interjection to lend emphasis; sometimes, a profanity fable—a brief story that leads to a moral, often using animals as characters fantasy—a story that concerns an unreal world or contains unreal characters; a fantasy

may be merely whimsical, or it may present a serious point figurative language—language employing one or more figures of speech (simile,

metaphor, imagery, etc.)


flashback—the insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a narrative

flat character—a character who embodies a single quality and who does not develop in

the course of a story foreshadowing—the presentation of material in such a way that the reader is prepared

for what is to come later in the work frame device—a story within a story. An example is Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in

which the primary tales are told within the “frame story” of the pilgrimage to Canterbury

genre—a major category or type of literature homily—a sermon, or a moralistic lecture hubris—excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a

tragedy hyperbole—intentional exaggeration to create an effect hypothetical question—a question that raises a hypothesis, conjecture, or supposition idiom—an expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal

meaning of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect imagery—the use of figures of speech to create vivid images that appeal to one of the

senses implication—a suggestion an author or speaker makes (implies) without stating it

directly. NOTE: the author/sender implies; the reader/audience infers. inductive reasoning—deriving general principles from particular facts or instances (“Every cat I have ever seen has four legs; cats are four-legged animals). inference—a conclusion one draws (infers) based on premises or evidence invective—an intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack irony—the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; or, incongruity

between what is expected and what actually occurs jargon—the specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession juxtaposition—placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast


legend—a narrative handed down from the past, containing historical elements and usually supernatural elements

limerick—light verse consisting of five lines of regular rhythm in which the first, second,

and fifth lines (each consisting of three feet) rhyme, and the second and third lines (each consisting of two feet) rhyme

limited narrator—a narrator who presents the story as it is seen and understood by a

single character and restricts information to what is seen, heard, thought, or felt by that one character

literary license—deviating from normal rules or methods in order to achieve a certain

effect (intentional sentence fragments, for example). litotes—a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite

(describing a particularly horrific scene by saying, “It was not a pretty picture.”) malapropism—the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds

similar (“The doctor wrote a subscription”). maxim—a concise statement, often offering advice; an adage metaphor—a direct comparison of two different things metonymy—substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated

with it (“The pen [writing] is mightier than the sword [war/fighting]”) mood—the emotional atmosphere of a work motif—a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works motivation—a character’s incentive or reason for behaving in a certain manner; that

which impels a character to act myth—a traditional story presenting supernatural characters and episodes that help

explain natural events narrative—a story or narrated account narrator—the one who tells the story; may be first- or third-person, limited or

omniscient non sequitur—an inference that does not follow logically from the premises (literally,

“does not follow”). omniscient narrator—a narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the

inner thoughts and feelings of the characters


onomatopoeia—a word formed from the imitation of natural sounds oxymoron—an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined parable—a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson paradox—an apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth parallelism—the use of corresponding grammatical or syntactical forms paraphrase—a restatement of a text in a different form or in different words, often for

the purpose of clarity parody—a humorous imitation of a serious work parenthetical—a comment that interrupts the immediate subject, often to qualify or

explain pathos—the quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity pedantic—characterized by an excessive display of learning or scholarship personification—endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or

characteristics philippic—a strong verbal denunciation. The term comes from the orations of

Demosthenes against Philip of Macedonia in the fourth century. plot—the action of a narrative or drama point of view—the vantage point from which a story is told polysyndeton—the use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or

natural pun—a play on words, often achieved through the use of words with similar sounds but

different meanings resolution—the falling action of a narrative; the events following the climax rhetoric—the art of presenting ideas in a clear, effective, and persuasive manner rhetorical question—a question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an

answer rhetorical devices—literary techniques used to heighten the effectiveness of expression


riddle—a question requiring thought to answer or understand; a puzzle or conundrum romantic—a term describing a character or literary work that reflects the characteristics

of Romanticism, the literary movement beginning in the late 18th century that stressed emotion, imagination, and individualism.

round character—a character who demonstrates some complexity and who develops or

changes in the course of a work sarcasm—harsh, cutting language or tone intended to ridicule satire—the use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in social

institutions scapegoat—a person or group that bears the blame for another scene—a real or fictional episode; a division of an act in a play setting—the time, place, and environment in which action takes place simile—a comparison of two things using “like,” “as,” or other specifically comparative

words. simple sentence—a sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent

clause solecism—nonstandard grammatical usage; a violation of grammatical rules structure—the arrangement or framework of a sentence, paragraph, or entire work style—the choices a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary

work surrealism—an artistic movement emphasizing the imagination and characterized by

incongruous juxtapositions and lack of conscious control syllepsis—a construction in which one word is used in two different senses (“After he

threw the ball, he threw a fit.”) syllogism—a three-part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major

premise and a minor premise (“All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal”).

symbol—an object that is used to represent something else synecdoche—using one part of an object to represent the entire object (for example,

referring to a car simply as “wheels”)


synesthesia (or synaesthesia) —describing one kind of sensation in terms of another (“a loud color,” “a sweet sound”)

syntax—the manner in which words are arranged into sentences tautology—needless repetition which adds no meaning or understanding (“widow

woman,” “free gift”) theme—a central idea of a work thesis—the primary position taken by a writer or speaker tone—the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience topic—the subject treated in a paragraph or work tragedy—a work in which the protagonist, a person of high degree, is engaged in a

significant struggle and which ends in ruin or destruction. trilogy—a work in three parts, each of which is a complete work in itself trite—overused and hackneyed turning point—the point in a work in which a very significant change occurs understatement—the deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than

it actually is; a deliberate under-emphasis. usage—the customary way language or its elements are used vernacular—the everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving

nonstandard usage


VOCABULARY LIST FOR THE SCARLET LETTER

Note: Vocabulary from the literary passage is listed first, followed by vocabulary from the questions and answers. Passage 1 Passage 2 Passage 3 intently rigidity petrified augured severity indubitably scourged solemnity interfused rotundity winced heathenish adornment _______________ culprit deficiencies virtuous

discerning disarray furrowed visage heterogeneous garb deformity penetrative writhing instantaneously grievous redeemed sojourn iniquity expound ignominious irks _____________ ironic bemuse unwavering

morbid infamy annihilate ignominy vivify embody obscure inscrutable assimilate ignominy assimilations strove purge martyrdom _______________ posit chronicler ambivalence


Passage 4 Passage 5 Passage 6 commodity hereditary opposition habitation extremity ponderous elaborately heirlooms pewter frothy burnished solemn elfish merriment __________ remunerated allusions didactic

leech balm impelled tremulous musty sensual orthodox scrutinized sensibility infirmity cavern sagacity intrusive tumult inarticulate inevitable enumerated sagacious concord ________________ attribute orthodox

tremulous abomination iniquity simultaneous defiled discern scourge smiting pious penance typified introspection ethereal discern impalpable anguish _______________ suffice universal


Passage 7 Passage 8 Passage 9 inmate zealously resolute accost despotic deportment benign rigid benevolence guardianship propensity luxuriant gushed transfiguration emancipated sphere stigmatized ______________ dilemmas mercurial euphemisms abstractions

meditative betokened converts wayfarers straggled flitting vista pensiveness scintillating attribute vivacity scrofula luster _________________ personification morose enigmatic

habituated colloquy estranged pillory amiss transgressed epoch zeal trammeled extenuation avail harrowed inscrutable machinations expiating citadel stealthy _____________ unadulterated justifications rhetorical


Passage 10 Passage 11 Passage 12

erratic plumage indefatigable disquietude eccentricity prow smitten labyrinth boorish centrifugal repugnance languidly sear _______________ provision figurative

clangor zenith symphonious etherealized embers tottered tremulously magistrate intimations celestial ______________ assertion censure

sufficed conjectural ignominious necromancer manifesting portent nugatory parable repudiate momentous inferred withered systematic consummation antipathy ________________ parable indulgent


Student Practices

for

The Scarlet Letter

Multiple-Choice Questions


Directions: This part consists of selections from The Scarlet Letter and questions on their content, form, and style. After reading each passage, choose the best answer to each question. Note: Pay particular attention to the requirement of questions that contain the words NOT, LEAST, or EXCEPT. Passage 1, Questions 1-7. Read the following passage from Chapter 2, “The Market-Place,” carefully before you choose your answers.

The grass-plot before the jail, in Prison Lane, on a certain summer morning, not less than two centuries ago, was occupied by a pretty large number of the inhabitants of Boston, all with their eyes intently fastened on the iron-clamped oaken door. Amongst any other population, or at a later period in the history of (5) New England, the grim rigidity that petrified the bearded physiognomies of these good people would have augured some awful business in hand. It could have betokened nothing short of the anticipated execution of some noted culprit, on whom the sentence of a legal tribunal had but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment. But, in that early severity of the Puritan character, an inference of this (10) kind could not so indubitably be drawn. It might be that a sluggish bond-servant, or an undutiful child, whom his parents had given over to the civil authority, was to be corrected at the whipping-post. It might be, that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodox religionist was to be scourged out of the town, or an idle and vagrant Indian, whom the white man’s fire-water had made riotous about the streets, was to (15) be driven with stripes into the shadow of the forest. It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows. In either case, there was very much the same solemnity of demeanor on the part of the spectators; as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly (20) interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful. Meagre, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for from such by-standers, at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penalty, which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of (25) death itself. It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a particular interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of impropriety (30) restrained the wearers of petticoats and farthingale from stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng nearest to the scaffold at an execution. Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fibre in those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair descendants, separated from them by a series of six or seven (35) generations; for, throughout that chain of ancestry, every successive mother has transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame, if not a character of less force and solidity, than her own. The women who were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the not altogether (40) unsuitable representative of the sex. They were her country-women; and the beef and ale of their native land, with a moral diet not a whit more refined, entered largely into their composition. The bright morning sun, therefore, shone on broad shoulders and well-developed busts, and on round and ruddy cheeks, that had ripened in the far-off island, and had hardly yet grown paler or thinner in the (45) atmosphere of New England. There was, moreover, a boldness and rotundity of speech among these matrons, as most of them seemed to be, that would startle us at


the present day, whether in respect to its purport or its volume of tone. “Goodwives,” said a hard-featured dame of fifty, “I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age (50) 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!” (55) “People say,” said another, “that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation.” “The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch –that is a truth,” added a third autumnal matron. “At the very least, they should have put the (60) brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead. Madam Hester would have winced at that, I warrant me. But she–the naughty baggage–little will she care what they put upon the bodice of her gown! Why, look you, she may cover it with a brooch, or such like heathenish adornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever!” “Ah, but,” interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, (65) “let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.” “What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodice of her gown, or the flesh of her forehead?” cried another female, the ugliest as well as the most pitiless of these self-constituted judges. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture (70) and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!” “Mercy on us, goodwife,” exclaimed a man in the crowd, “is there no virtue in woman, save what springs from a wholesome fear of the gallows? That is the hardest word yet! Hush, now, gossips! for the lock is turning in the prison-door, (75) and here comes Mistress Prynne herself.”

1. A prominent stylistic characteristic of the narrator’s discussion of the awaited culprit’s possible identity: “But in that early . . . made venerable and awful” (lines 9-21) is (A) hyperbole (B) parallel construction (C) metaphor (D) syllogistic reasoning (E) allegory 2. The negative tone of the speaker’s appraisal of the assembled women is tempered by which of the following phrases? (A) “wedging their not insubstantial persons” (line 31) (B) “a coarser fibre in those wives and maidens” (line 33) (C) “a more delicate and briefer beauty” (line 36) (D) “with a moral diet not a whit more refined” (line 41) (E) “in respect to its purport or its volume of tone” (line 47)


3. The antecedent of “its” in line 47 is (A) “speech” (line 46) (B) “matrons” (line 46) (C) “them” (line 46) (D) “present day” (line 47) (E) “respect” (line 47) 4. As used in line 47, “purport” means (A) purpose (B) appearance (C) meaning (D) transport (E) allegation 5. The narrator seems to feel that the women of the era (A) are harsher in their judgments than are the ruling men (B) are overly subservient to men (C) are without exception bitter-tempered (D) are more refined than the “man-like” Elizabeth” (E) are concerned about Antinomians 6. The conversation beginning “Goodwives” (line 48) and ending “. . . Mistress Prynne herself” (line 75) is characterized by several (A) personifications (B) euphemisms (C) apostrophes (D) antitheses (E) rhetorical questions 7. The words of the man in the crowd, “Mercy on us . . . hardest word yet!” (lines 72-74) serve the purpose of (A) pointing out the moral deficiencies of the women of the era (B) explaining the magistrates’ choice of Hester’s sentence (C) exposing the underlying implication of the “goodwife’s” words (D) criticizing those who would question authority (E) comparing virtuous women to those who fear the gallows


Passage 2, Questions 8-16. Read the following passage from Chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter, “The Recognition,” carefully before you choose your answers.

From this intense consciousness of being the object of severe and universal observation, the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning, on the outskirts of the crowd, a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts. An Indian, in his native garb, was standing there; but the red men were (5) not so infrequent visitors of the English settlements, that one of them would have attracted any notice from Hester Prynne at such a time; much less would he have excluded all other objects and ideas from her mind. By the Indian’s side, and evidently sustaining a companionship with him, stood a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume. (10) He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable tokens. Although, by a seemingly careless arrangement of his heterogeneous garb, he had endeavored to conceal or (15) abate the peculiarity, it was sufficiently evident to Hester Prynne that one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other. Again, at the first instant of perceiving that thin visage, and the slight deformity of the figure, she pressed her infant to her bosom with so convulsive a force that the poor babe uttered another cry of pain. But the mother did not seem to hear it (20) At his arrival in the market-place, and some time before she saw him, the stranger had bent his eyes on Hester Prynne. It was carelessly, at first, like a man chiefly accustomed to look inward, and to whom external matters are of little value and import, unless they bear relation to something within his mind. Very soon, however, his look became keen and penetrative. A writhing horror twisted itself (25) across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness. After a brief space, the convulsion grew almost imperceptible, and (30) finally subsided into the depths of his nature. When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips. Then, touching the shoulder of a towns-man who stood next to him, he addressed him, in a formal and courteous manner. (35) “I pray you, good Sir,” said he, “who is this woman?—and wherefore is she here set up to public shame?” “You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend,” answered the townsman, looking curiously at the questioner and his savage companion, “else you would surely have heard of Mistress Hester Prynne, and her evil doings. She hath raised a (40) great scandal, I promise you, in godly Master Dimmesdale’s church.” “You say truly,” replied the other. “I am a stranger, and have been a wanderer, sorely against my will. I have met with grievous mishaps by sea and land, and have been long held in bonds among the heathen-folk, to the southward; and am now brought hither by this Indian to be redeemed out of my captivity. Will it please you, (45) therefore, to tell me of Hester Prynne’s—have I her name rightly?—of this woman’s offences, and what has brought her to yonder scaffold?” “Truly, friend; and methinks it must gladden your heart, after your troubles and sojourn in the wilderness,” said the townsman, “to find yourself, at length, in a land where iniquity is searched out, and punished in the sight of rulers and people, as (50) here in our godly New England. Yonder woman, Sir, you must know, was the wife of a certain learned man, English by birth, but who had long dwelt in Amsterdam, whence, some good time agone, he was minded to cross over and cast in his lot with


us of the Massachusetts. To this purpose, he sent his wife before him, remaining himself to look after some necessary affairs. Marry, good Sir, in some two years, or (55) less, that the woman has been a dweller here in Boston, no tidings have come of this learned gentleman, Master Prynne; and his young wife, look you, being left to her own misguidance”— “Ah! aha!—I conceive you,” said the stranger with a bitter smile. “So learned a man as you speak of should have learned this too in his books. And who, by your (60) favor, Sir, may be the father of yonder babe—it is some three or four months old, I should judge—which Mistress Prynne is holding in her arms?” “Of a truth, friend, that matter remaineth a riddle; and the Daniel who shall expound it is yet a-wanting,” answered the townsman. “Madam Hester absolutely refuseth to speak, and the magistrates have laid their heads together in vain. (65) Peradventure the guilty one stands looking on at this sad spectacle, unknown of man, and forgetting that God sees him.” “The learned man,” observed the stranger, with another smile, “should come himself, to look into the mystery.” “It behooves him well, if he be still in life,” responded the townsman. “Now, (70) good Sir, our Massachusetts magistracy, bethinking themselves that this woman is youthful and fair, and doubtless was strongly tempted to her fall—and that, moreover, as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea--they have not been bold to put in force the extremity of our righteous law against her. The penalty thereof is death. But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have (75) doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory, and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.” “A wise sentence!” remarked the stranger, gravely bowing his head. “Thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon (80) her tombstone. It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. But he will be known!—he will be known!—he will be known!”

8. The word “careless” as used in line 14 most nearly means (A) reckless (B) unstudied (C) selfish (D) thoughtless (E) irrational 9. In describing the momentary revelation of the stranger’s emotion, the narrator employs (A) allusion (B) personification (C) simile (D) antithesis (E) hyperbole


10. The antecedent of “its” (line 28) is (A) “snake” (line 25) (B) “face” (line 26) (C) “emotion” (line 27) (D) “will” (line 28) (E) “moment” (line 28) 11. The stranger most likely lays his finger on his lips (line 32) to (A) keep himself from speaking involuntarily (B) express sympathy for Hester Prynne (C) communicate his wishes to his Indian companion (D) signal to Hester that she should not acknowledge him (E) express his amazement at the scene before him 12. Which of the following is the subject of the main clause in the first sentence of the third paragraph— “At his arrival . . . Prynne” (lines 20-21)? (A) arrival (B) market-place (C) stranger (D) she (E) Hester Prynne 13. The tone of the first three paragraphs is best described as (A) foreboding (B) ironic (C) agitated (D) elegiac (E) despairing 14. In the conversation with the stranger, the townsman discusses all of the following EXCEPT (A) his unwavering support of the magistrates (B) speculation as to the cause of Hester’s sin (C) speculation as to the fate of Master Prynne (D) the community’s response to Hester’s sin (E) assurance that the identity of the baby’s father will be revealed


15. The vehement tone of the two sentences beginning, “‘It irks me’” and ending, “‘he will be known!’” (lines 80-82) would seem to be most incongruous with which of the stranger’s words? (A) “‘The learned man . . . mystery’” (lines 67-68) (B) “‘And who . . . yonder babe’” (lines 59-60) (C) “‘So learned a man as you speak of . . .in his books’” (lines 58-59) (D) “‘have I her name rightly?’” (line 45) (E) “‘A wise sentence!’” (line 78) 16. In the context of the passage as a whole, the stranger’s marked courtesy probably serves to further his intention to (A) disarm (B) delight (C) bemuse (D) compensate (E) imitate


Passage 3, Questions 17-23. Read the following passage from Chapter 5 of The Scarlet Letter, “Hester at Her Needle,” carefully before you choose your answers.

Hester Prynne’s term of confinement was now at an end. Her prison-door was thrown open, and she came forth into the sunshine, which, falling on all alike, seemed, to her sick and morbid heart, as if meant for no other purpose than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast. Perhaps there was a more real torture in her first (5) unattended footsteps from the threshold of the prison, than even in the procession and spectacle that have been described, where she was made the common infamy, at which all mankind was summoned to point its finger. Then, she was supported by an unnatural tension of her nerves, and by all the combative energy of her character, which enabled her to convert the scene into a kind of lurid triumph. It was, (10) moreover, a separate and insulated event, to occur but once in her lifetime, and to meet which, therefore, reckless of economy, she might call up the vital strength that would have sufficed for many quiet years. The very law that condemned her—a giant of stern features, but with vigor to support, as well as to annihilate, in his iron arm—had held her up, through the terrible ordeal of her ignominy. But now, with (15) this unattended walk from her prison-door, began the daily custom; and she must either sustain and carry it forward by the ordinary resources of her nature, or sink beneath it. She could no longer borrow from the future to help her through the present brief. To-morrow would bring its own trial with it; so would the next day, and so would the next; each its own trial, and yet the very same that was now so (20) unutterably grievous to be borne. The days of the far-off future would toil onward, still with the same burden for her to take up, and bear along with her, but never to fling down; for the accumulating days, and added years, would pile up their misery upon the heap of shame. Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and the moralist might (25) point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman’s frailty and sinful passion. Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast—at her, the child of honorable parents—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman—at her, who had once been innocent—as a figure, the body, the reality of sin. And over her grave, the (30) infamy that she must carry thither would be her only monument. It may seem marvellous, that, with the world before her—kept by no restrictive clause of her condemnation within the limits of the Puritan settlement, so remote and so obscure—free to return to her birthplace, or to any other European land, and there hide her character and identity under a new exterior, as completely as if (35) emerging into another state of being—and having also the passes of the dark, inscrutable forest open to her, where the wildness of her nature might assimilate itself with a people whose customs and life were alien from the law that had condemned her—it may seem marvellous that this woman should still call that place her home, where, and where only, she must needs be the type of shame. But there is (40) a fatality, a feeling so irresistible and inevitable that it has the force of doom, which almost invariably compels human beings to linger around and haunt, ghostlike, the spot where some great and marked event has given the color to their lifetime; and still more irresistibly, the darker the tinge that saddens it. Her sin, her ignominy, were the roots which she had struck into the soil. It was as if a new birth, with (45) stronger assimilations than the first, had converted the forest-land, still so uncongenial to every other pilgrim and wanderer, into Hester Prynne’s wild and dreary, but life-long home. All other scenes of earth—even that village of rural England, where happy infancy and stainless maidenhood seemed yet to be in her mother’s keeping, like garments put off long ago—were foreign to her, in (50) comparison. The chain that bound her here was of iron links, and galling to her inmost soul, but could never be broken. It might be, too—doubtless it was so, although she hid the secret from herself,


and grew pale whenever it struggled out of her heart, like a serpent from its hole—it might be that another feeling kept her within the scene and pathway that had been (55) so fatal. There dwelt, there trod the feet of one with whom she deemed herself connected in a union, that, unrecognized on earth, would bring them together before the bar of final judgment, and make that their marriage-altar, for a joint futurity of endless retribution. Over and over again, the tempter of souls had thrust this idea upon Hester’s contemplation, and laughed at the passionate and desperate joy with (60) which she seized, and then strove to cast it from her. She barely looked the idea in the face, and hastened to bar it in its dungeon. What she compelled herself to believe—what, finally, she reasoned upon, as her motive for continuing a resident of New England—was half a truth, and half a self-delusion. Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly (65) punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom.

17. The antecedent of “It” (line 9) is (A) scene (line 9) (B) torture (line 4) (C) infamy (line 6) (D) energy (line 8) (E) triumph (line 9) 18. The sentence “The very law that condemned her . . . her ignominy” (lines 12-14), presents which of the following? I. personification II. understatement III. irony (A) I only (B) I and II only (C) I and III only (D) II and III only (E) I, II, and III 19. The first sentence of the second paragraph is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT (A) periodic structure (B) verbals (C) parallelism (D) repetition (E) subordination


20. In the second and third paragraphs, the narrator’s purpose is to (A) present examples of the injustices within the Puritan settlement (B) posit explanations for a seemingly anomalous situation (C) defend Hester’s determination to maintain a certain sacred union (D) reinforce his stance as an objective chronicler of events (E) emphasize Hester’s defiance of the law that condemned her 21. In line 39, the word “type” can be best defined as (A) sort (B) individual (C) solid imprint (D) prime example (E) species 22. One pair of verb phrases in the third paragraph which illustrates Hester’s internal ambivalence is (A) “hid the secret” and “grew pale” (lines 52-53) (B) “trod the feet of one” and “deemed herself connected” (lines 55-56) (C) “thrust this idea” and “laughed at the passionate and desperate joy” (lines 58-59) (D) “looked the idea in the face” and “hastened to bar it” (lines 60-61) (E) “compelled herself to believe” and “said to herself” (lines 61-64) 23. The passage is characterized by all of the following rhetorical features EXCEPT (A) parallel construction (B) metaphor (C) personal anecdote (D) simile (E) personification


Passage 4, Questions 24-30. Read the following passage from Chapter 7 of The Scarlet Letter, “The Governor’s Hall,” carefully before you choose your answers.

They approached the door; which was of an arched form, and flanked on each side by a narrow tower or projection of the edifice, in both of which were lattice- windows, with wooden shutters to close over them at need. Lifting the iron hammer that hung at the portal, Hester Prynne gave a summons, which was answered by one (5) of the Governor’s bond-servants; a free-born Englishman, but now a seven years’ slave. During that term he was to be the property of his master, and as much a commodity of bargain and sale as an ox, or a joint-stool. The serf wore the blue coat, which was the customary garb of serving-men of that period, and long before, in the old hereditary halls of England. (10) “Is the worshipful Governor Bellingham within?” inquired Hester. “Yea, forsooth,” replied the bond-servant, staring with wide-open eyes at the scarlet letter, which, being a newcomer in the country, he had never before seen. “Yea, his honorable worship is within. But he hath a godly minister or two with him, and likewise a leech. Ye may not see his worship now.” (15) “Nevertheless, I will enter,” replied Hester Prynne, and the bond-servant, perhaps, judging from the decision of her air, and the glittering symbol on her bosom, that she was a great lady in the land, offered no opposition. So the mother and little Pearl were admitted into the hall of entrance. With many variations, suggested by the nature of his building-materials, diversity of (20) climate, and a different mode of social life, Governor Bellingham had planned his new habitation after the residences of gentlemen of fair estate in his native land. Here, then, was a wide and reasonably lofty hall, extending through the whole depth of the house, and forming a medium of general communication, more or less directly, with all the other apartments. At one extremity, this spacious room was (25) lighted by the windows of the two towers, which formed a small recess on either side of the portal. At the other end, though partly muffled by a curtain, it was more powerfully illuminated by one of those embowed hall-windows which we read of in old books, and which was provided with a deep and cushioned seat. Here, on the cushion, lay a folio tome, probably of the Chronicles of England, or other such (30) substantial literature; even as, in our own days, we scatter gilded volumes on the centre-table, to be turned over by the casual guest. The furniture of the hall consisted of some ponderous chairs, the backs of which were elaborately carved with wreaths of oaken flowers; and likewise a table in the same taste; the whole being of the Elizabethan age, or perhaps earlier, and heirlooms, transferred hither (35) from the Governor’s paternal home. On the table—in token that the sentiment of old English hospitality had not been left behind—stood a large pewter tankard, at the bottom of which, had Hester or Pearl peeped into it, they might have seen the frothy remnant of a recent draught of ale. On the wall hung a row of portraits, representing the forefathers of the (40) Bellingham lineage, some with armor on their breasts, and others with stately ruffs and robes of peace. All were characterized by the sternness and severity which old portraits so invariably put on; as if they were the ghosts, rather than the pictures, of departed worthies, and were gazing with harsh and intolerant criticism at the pursuits and enjoyments of living men. (45) At about the centre of the oaken panels, that lined the hall, was suspended a suit of mail, not, like the pictures, an ancestral relic, but of the most modern date; for it had been manufactured by a skilful armorer in London, the same year in which Governor Bellingham came over to New England. There was a steel headpiece, a cuirass, a gorget, and greaves, with a pair of gauntlets and a sword hanging beneath; (50) all, and especially the helmet and breastplate, so highly burnished as to glow with white radiance, and scatter an illumination everywhere about upon the floor. This


bright panoply was not meant for mere idle show, but had been worn by the Governor on many a solemn muster and training field, and had glittered, moreover, at the head of a regiment in the Pequot war. For, though bred a lawyer, and (55) accustomed to speak of Bacon, Coke, Noye, and Finch as his professional associates, the exigencies of this new country had transformed Governor Bellingham into a soldier as well as a statesman and ruler. Little Pearl—who was as greatly pleased with the gleaming armor as she had been with the glittering frontispiece of the house—spent some time looking into the (60) polished mirror of the breastplate. “Mother,” cried she, “I see you here. Look! Look!” Hester looked, by way of humoring the child; and she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature (65) of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it. Pearl pointed upward, also, at a similar picture in the headpiece; smiling at her mother, with the elfish intelligence that was so familiar an expression on her small physiognomy. That look of naughty merriment was likewise reflected in the mirror, with so much breadth and intensity of effect, that it made Hester Prynne feel as if it could not be (70) the image of her own child, but of an imp who was seeking to mould itself into Pearl’s shape.

24. The similes employed in the first paragraph suggest primarily that the serf (A) contributes to the picturesque atmosphere of the home (B) is not adequately remunerated for his labors (C) labors strenuously for his master (D) would have fared better had he remained in England (E) is viewed as less than human 25. In the paragraph beginning “So the mother and little Pearl” (line 18), the narrator makes clear that he (A) disapproves of the governor’s furnishings (B) is critical of the governor’s lack of hospitality (C) has doubts as to the identity of the governor’s “paternal home” (D) is not the governor’s contemporary (E) can pinpoint precisely the period to which the furnishings belong 26. Which of the following is the subject of the sentence “With many variations . . . his native land” (lines 18-21)? (A) Governor Bellingham (B) nature (C) diversity (D) habitation (E) gentlemen


27. In the paragraph beginning “At about the centre” (line 45), the narrator’s attitude toward Governor Bellingham could best be described as (A) pedestrian (B) cynical (C) respectful (D) condescending (E) fawning 28. Which of the following is the antecedent for “it” (line 46)? (A) “centre” (line 45) (B) “hall” (line 45) (C) “suit” (line 45) (D) “pictures” (line 46) (E) “relic” (line 46) 29. The phrase “by way of” (line 62) would most accurately be rephrased as (A) “instead of” (B) “incidentally to” (C) “in the manner of” (D) “by means of” (E) “in order to” 30. The author’s style in the passage is characterized by (A) literary allusions (B) highly abstract metaphors (C) historical references (D) didactic rhetoric (E) aphoristic statements


Passage 5, Questions 31-37. Read the following passage from Chapter 9 of The Scarlet Letter, “The Leech,” carefully before you choose your answers.

In this manner, the mysterious old Roger Chillingworth became the medical adviser of the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. As not only the disease interested the physician, but he was strongly moved to look into the character and qualities of the patient, these two men, so different in age, came gradually to spend much time (5) together. For the sake of the minister’s health, and to enable the leech to gather plants with healing balm in them, they took long walks on the sea-shore, or in the forest; mingling various talk with the plash and murmur of the waves, and the solemn wind-anthem among the tree-tops. Often, likewise, one was the guest of the other, in his place of study and retirement. There was a fascination for the minister (10) in the company of the man of science, in whom he recognized an intellectual cultivation of no moderate depth or scope; together with a range and freedom of ideas that he would have vainly looked for among the members of his own profession. In truth, he was startled, if not shocked, to find this attribute in the physician. Mr. Dimmesdale was a true priest, a true religionist, with the reverential (15) sentiment largely developed, and an order of mind that impelled itself powerfully along the track of a creed, and wore its passage continually deeper with the lapse of time. In no state of society would he have been what is called a man of liberal views; it would always be essential to his peace to feel the pressure of a faith about him, supporting, while it confined him within its iron framework. Not the less, (20) however, though with a tremulous enjoyment, did he feel the occasional relief of looking at the universe through the medium of another kind of intellect than those with which he habitually held converse. It was as if a window were thrown open, admitting a freer atmosphere into the close and stifled study, where his life was wasting itself away, amid lamplight, or obstructed day-beams, and the musty (25) fragrance, be it sensual or moral, that exhales from books. But the air was too fresh and chill to be long breathed with comfort. So the minister, and the physician with him, withdrew again within the limits of what their church defined as orthodox. Thus Roger Chillingworth scrutinized his patient carefully, both as he saw him in his ordinary life, keeping an accustomed pathway in the range of thoughts (30) familiar to him, and as he appeared when thrown amidst other moral scenery, the novelty of which might call out something new to the surface of his character. He deemed it essential, it would seem, to know the man, before attempting to do him good. Wherever there is a heart and an intellect, the diseases of the physical frame are tinged with the peculiarities of these. In Arthur Dimmesdale, thought and (35) imagination were so active, and sensibility so intense, that the bodily infirmity would be likely to have its groundwork there. So Roger Chillingworth—the man of skill, the kind and friendly physician—strove to go deep into his patient’s bosom, delving among his principles, prying into his recollections, and probing everything with a cautious touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern. Few secrets can (40) escape an investigator, who has opportunity and license to undertake such a quest, and skill to follow it up. A man burdened with a secret should especially avoid the intimacy of his physician. If the latter possess native sagacity, and a nameless something more,—let us call it intuition; if he show no intrusive egotism, nor disagreeably prominent characteristics of his own; if he have the power, which must (45) be born with him, to bring his mind into such affinity with his patient’s, that this last shall unawares have spoken what he imagines himself only to have thought; if such revelations be received without tumult, and acknowledged not so often by an uttered sympathy as by silence, an inarticulate breath, and here and there a word, to indicate that all is understood; if to these qualifications of a confidant be joined the (50) advantages afforded by his recognized character as a physician—then, at some inevitable moment, will the soul of the sufferer be dissolved, and flow forth in a dark, but transparent stream, bringing all its mysteries into the daylight.


Roger Chillingworth possessed all, or most, of the attributes above enumerated. Nevertheless, time went on; a kind of intimacy, as we have said, grew up between (55) these two cultivated minds, which had as wide a field as the whole sphere of human thought and study, to meet upon; they discussed every topic of ethics and religion, of public affairs and private character; they talked much, on both sides, of matters that seemed personal to themselves; and yet no secret, such as the physician fancied must exist there, ever stole out of the minister’s consciousness into his companion’s (60) ear. The latter had his suspicions, indeed, that even the nature of Mr. Dimmesdale’s bodily disease had never fairly been revealed to him. It was a strange reserve! After a time, at a hint from Roger Chillingworth, the friends of Mr. Dimmesdale effected an arrangement by which the two were lodged in the same house; so that every ebb and flow of the minister’s life-tide might pass under the (65) eye of his anxious and attached physician. There was much joy throughout the town when this greatly desirable object was attained. It was held to be the best possible measure for the young clergyman’s welfare; unless, indeed, as often urged by such as felt authorized to do so, he had selected some one of the many blooming damsels, spiritually devoted to him, to become his devoted wife. This latter step, (70) however, there was no present prospect that Arthur Dimmesdale would be prevailed upon to take; he rejected all suggestions of the kind, as if priestly celibacy were one of his articles of church-discipline. Doomed by his own choice, therefore, as Mr. Dimmesdale so evidently was, to eat his unsavory morsel always at another’s board, and endure the life-long chill which must be his lot who seeks to warm himself only (75) at another’s fireside, it truly seemed that this sagacious, experienced, benevolent old physician, with his concord of paternal and reverential love for the young pastor, was the very man of all mankind to be constantly within reach of his voice.

31. In context, the phrase “of no moderate depth or scope” (line 11) is an example of (A) litotes (B) hyperbole (C) synecdoche (D) allusion (E) metaphor 32. “This attribute” (line 13) refers to (A) “fascination” (line 9) (B) “man of science” (line 10) (C) “intellectual cultivation” (lines 10-11) (D) “depth or scope” (line 11) (E) “range and freedom” (line 11) 33. The sentence “So the minister . . . defined as orthodox” (lines 26-27) reflects the paradox that (A) That which is sensual can also be moral. (B) That which is restrictive can also be comforting. (C) That which is free can also be stifling. (D) That which is fresh can also be chill. (E) That which is liberal can also be orthodox.


34. The subject of the main clause in the sentence beginning “If the latter possess native sagacity . . .” (line 42) is (A) “latter” (line 42) (B) “he” (line 43) (C) “revelations” (line 47) (D) “qualifications” (line 49) (E) “soul” (line 51) 35. Considering the context of this chapter and the preceding chapter, the narrator’s use of the terms “benevolent,” “paternal,” and “reverential” (lines 75-76) to describe Chillingworth most likely represent (A) his own perception of Chillingworth (B) Dimmesdale’s perception of Chillingworth (C) the perception of both the narrator and the community (D) the perception of the community (E) the perception of the town’s “blooming damsels” 36. The phrase “constantly within reach of his voice” (line 77) becomes ominous in light of which of the following phrases which precede it? I. “like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern” (line 39) II. “Doomed by his own choice” (line 72) III. “strongly moved to look into the character and qualities of the patient” (lines 3-4) (A) I only (B) I and II only (C) II and III only (D) I and III only (E) I, II, and III 37. The passage contains all of the following imagery patterns EXCEPT (A) confinement and release (B) darkness and light (C) quest and discovery (D) descent and ascent (E) destruction and creation


Passage 6, Questions 38-45. Read the following passage from Chapter 11 of The Scarlet Letter, “The Interior of a Heart,” carefully before you choose your answers.

More than once, Mr. Dimmesdale had gone into the pulpit, with a purpose never to come down its steps until he should have spoken words like the above. More than once, he had cleared his throat, and drawn in the long, deep, and tremulous breath, which, when sent forth again, would come burdened with the (5) black secret of his soul. More than once–nay, more than a hundred times–he had actually spoken! Spoken! But how? He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity; and that the only wonder was that they did not see his wretched body shrivelled up before their eyes, by the burning wrath of the (10) Almighty! Could there be plainer speech than this? Would not the people start up in their seats, by a simultaneous impulse, and tear him down out of the pulpit, which he defiled? Not so, indeed! They heard it all, and did but reverence him the more. They little guessed what deadly purport lurked in those self-condemning words. “The godly youth!” said they among themselves. “The saint on earth! Alas, if he (15) discern such sinfulness in his own white soul, what horrid spectacle would he behold in thine or mine!” The minister well knew–subtle, but remorseful hypocrite that he was!–the light in which his vague confession would be viewed. He had striven to put a cheat upon himself by making the avowal of a guilty conscience, but had gained only one other sin, and a self-acknowledged shame, without the (20) momentary relief of being self-deceived. He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the veriest falsehood. And yet, by the constitution of his nature, he loved the truth, and loathed the lie, as few men ever did. Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self! His inward trouble drove him to practices more in accordance with the old, (25) corrupted faith of Rome, than with the better light of the church in which he had been born and bred. In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders; laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh. It was his custom, too, as it has been (30) that of many other pious Puritans, to fast–not, however, like them, in order to purify the body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination, but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance. He kept vigils, likewise, night after night, sometimes in utter darkness; sometimes with a glimmering lamp; and sometimes, viewing his own face in a looking-glass, by the most powerful light (35) which he could throw upon it. He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself. In these lengthened vigils, his brain often reeled, and visions seemed to flit before him; perhaps seen doubtfully, and by a faint light of their own, in the remote dimness of the chamber, or more vividly, and close beside him, within the looking-glass. Now it was a herd of (40) diabolic shapes, that grinned and mocked at the pale minister, and beckoned him away with them; now a group of shining angels, who flew upward heavily, as sorrow-laden, but grew more ethereal as they rose. Now came the dead friends of his youth, and his white-bearded father, with a saint-like frown, and his mother, turning her face away as she passed by. Ghost of a mother–thinnest fantasy of a (45) mother–methinks she might yet have thrown a pitying glance towards her son! And now, through the chamber which these spectral thoughts had made so ghastly, glided Hester Prynne, leading along little Pearl, in her scarlet garb, and pointing her forefinger, first at the scarlet letter on her bosom, and then at the clergyman’s own breast. (50) None of these visions ever quite deluded him. At any moment, by an effort of his will, he could discern substances through their misty lack of substance, and convince himself that they were not solid in their nature, like yonder table of carved


oak, or that big, square, leathern-bound and brazen-clasped volume of divinity. But, for all that, they were, in one sense, the truest and most substantial things which the (55) poor minister now dealt with. It is the unspeakable misery of a life so false as his, that it steals the pith and substance out of whatever realities there are around us, and which were meant by Heaven to be the spirit’s joy and nutriment. To the untrue man, the whole universe is false–it is impalpable–it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself, in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a (60) shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist. The only truth that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul, and the undissembled expression of it in his aspect. Had he once found power to smile, and wear a face of gayety, there would have been no such man! On one of those ugly nights, which we have faintly hinted at, but forborne to (65) picture forth, the minister started from his chair. A new thought had struck him. There might be a moment’s peace in it. Attiring himself with as much care as if it had been for public worship, and precisely in the same manner, he stole softly down the staircase, undid the door, and issued forth.

38. The first paragraph is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT (A) parallel structure (B) exclamatory sentences (C) hyperbolic language (D) metaphorical allusions (E) rhetorical questions 39. The minister’s subtlety is most clearly demonstrated by which characteristic of his “confession”? (A) euphemistic language (B) mollifying tone (C) lack of specificity (D) reliance on abstractions (E) introductory physical gestures 40. From the second paragraph, it can be inferred that typical Puritan practices might not suffice for a sinner who seeks (A) purification (B) preparation (C) pity (D) piety (E) penance


41. In context, the word “typified” (line 35) most nearly means (A) made common (B) repeated (C) represented (D) continued (E) characterized 42. The statement that the visions with “their misty lack of substance” are “the truest and most substantial things” (lines 51-54) in the minister’s experience is an example of (A) metonymy (B) oxymoron (C) personification (D) foreshadowing (E) paradox 43. The phrase “for all that” (line 54) would best be restated as (A) for that reason (B) because of all that (C) instead of all that (D) in spite of all that (E) on behalf of all that 44. In the third paragraph, the shift from a discussion of a specific case to that of universal truths is signaled by (A) “around us” (line 56) (B) “meant by Heaven” (lines 57) (C) “To the untrue man” (lines 57-58) (D) “the whole universe” (line 58) (E) “within his grasp” (lines 58-59) 45. The antecedent of the first “it” in line 66 is (A) “one” (line 64) (B) “chair” (line 65) (C) “thought” (line 65) (D) “peace” (line 66) (E) “care” (line 66)


Passage 7, Questions 46-53. Read the following passage from Chapter 13 of The Scarlet Letter, “Another View of Hester,” carefully before you choose your answers.

It was only the darkened house that could contain her. When sunshine came again, she was not there. Her shadow had faded across the threshold. The helpful inmate had departed, without one backward glance to gather up the meed of gratitude, if any were in the hearts of those whom she had served so zealously. (5) Meeting them in the street, she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter, and passed on. This might be pride, but was so like humility, that it produced all the softening influence of the latter quality on the public mind. The public is despotic in its temper; it is capable of denying common justice, when too strenuously demanded as (10) a right; but quite as frequently it awards more than justice, when the appeal is made, as despots love to have it made, entirely to its generosity. Interpreting Hester Prynne’s deportment as an appeal of this nature, society was inclined to show its former victim a more benign countenance than she cared to be favored with, or, perchance, than she deserved. (15) The rulers, and the wise and learned men of the community, were longer in acknowledging the influence of Hester’s good qualities than the people. The prejudices which they shared in common with the latter were fortified in themselves by an iron framework of reasoning, that made it a far tougher labor to expel them. Day by day, nevertheless, their sour and rigid wrinkles were relaxing into something (20) which, in the due course of years, might grow to be an expression of almost benevolence. Thus it was with the men of rank, on whom their eminent position imposed the guardianship of the public morals. Individuals in private life, meanwhile, had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she (25) had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since. “Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?” they would say to strangers. “It is our Hester–the town’s own Hester, who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!” Then, it is true, the propensity of human nature to tell the very worst of itself, when embodied in the person of another, (30) would constrain them to whisper the black scandal of bygone years. It was none the less a fact, however, that, in the eyes of the very men who spoke thus, the scarlet letter had the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril. Had she fallen among thieves, it would have kept her safe. It was reported, and believed by many, (35) that an Indian had drawn his arrow against the badge, and that the missile struck it, but fell harmless to the ground. The effect of the symbol–or rather, of the position in respect to society that was indicated by it–on the mind of Hester Prynne herself, was powerful and peculiar. All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red- (40) hot brand, and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, which might have been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be repelled by it. Even the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change. It might be partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of demonstration in her manners. It was a sad transformation, too, that her rich and (45) luxuriant hair had either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine. It was due in part to all these causes, but still more to something else, that there seemed to be no longer anything in Hester’s face for Love to dwell upon; nothing in Hester’s form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping in its embrace; (50) nothing in Hester’s bosom, to make it ever again the pillow of Affection. Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman. Such is frequently the fate, and such the stern development, of the


feminine character and person, when the woman has encountered, and lived through, an experience of peculiar severity. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If (55) she survive, the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or–and the outward semblance is the same–crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more. The latter is perhaps the truest theory. She who has once been woman, and ceased to be so, might at any moment become a woman again if there were only the magic touch to effect the transfiguration. We shall see whether Hester Prynne were (60) ever afterwards so touched, and so transfigured. Much of the marble coldness of Hester’s impression was to be attributed to the circumstance, that her life had turned, in a great measure, from passion and feeling, to thought. Standing alone in the world,–alone, as to any dependence on society, and with little Pearl to be guided and protected–alone, and hopeless of retrieving (65) her position, even had she not scorned to consider it desirable–she cast away the fragments of a broken chain. The world’s law was no law for her mind. It was an age in which the human intellect, newly emancipated, had taken a more active and a wider range than for many centuries before. Men of the sword had overthrown nobles and kings. Men bolder than these had overthrown and rearranged–not (70) actually, but within the sphere of theory, which was their most real abode–the whole system of ancient prejudice, wherewith was linked much of ancient principle. Hester Prynne imbibed this spirit. She assumed a freedom of speculation, then common enough on the other side of the Atlantic, but which our forefathers, had they known it, would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatized by the (75) scarlet letter. In her lonesome cottage, by the sea-shore, thoughts visited her, such as dared to enter no other dwelling in New England; shadowy guests, that would have been as perilous as demons to their entertainer, could they have been seen so much as knocking at her door.

46. The point of the statement “The public is despotic . . . to its generosity” (lines 8-11) is to (A) argue that the public will eventually see reason (B) assert that the public upholds certain rights for its citizens (C) suggest that the public can be won over by a humble approach (D) emphasize that the public commonly faces complex dilemmas (E) refute the idea that the public is mercurial 47. In light of lines 23-25, “nay, more . . . since,” the clause which precedes it–“Individuals . . . frailty” (lines 22-23) would best be characterized as (A) a hyperbole (B) a metaphor (C) an allusion (D) an understatement (E) a paradox 48. How does the speaker characterize the difference between “The rulers” (line 15) and the “Individuals

in private life” (line 22)? (A) The rulers are more constrained in their thinking. (B) The rulers are wiser in their judgments. (C) The rulers are more prejudiced toward sinners. (D) The rulers are less compassionate in their responses. (E) The rulers are more benevolent toward those in need.


49. Which of the following phrases could best be substituted for the phrase “it would have kept her” in line 34 to make the meaning more explicit? (A) it had the power to keep her (B) it would likely have kept her (C) it would have kept Hester (D) it was thought it would have kept her (E) it was known to have kept her 50. Which of the following best describes the words “Love,” “Passion,” and “Affection” as they are used in the third paragraph? (A) Allusions to the father of Hester’s child (B) Euphemisms for emotions forbidden by the community (C) Ambiguous references to Hester’s contemporaries (D) Exaggerations of her lover’s feelings for Hester (E) Personifications of abstractions now denied Hester 51. The phrase “to effect” (line 59) most nearly means (A) to have an impact upon (B) to assume the appearance of (C) to alter (D) to bring about (E) to be caused by 52. “The sword” in the phrase “Men of the sword” (line 68) is an example of (A) simile (B) analogy (C) metaphor (D) metonymy (E) euphemism 53. The narrator uses the terms “deadlier crime” (line 74), “shadowy guests” (line 76), and “perilous as

demons” (line 77) to emphasize I. the community’s fear of free speculation II. Hester’s fear of the community’s censure III. Hester’s continued rebellion against the community’s standards (A) I only (B) I and II only (C) I and III only (D) II and III only (E) I, II, and III


Passage 8, Questions 54-60. Read the following passage from Chapter 16 of The Scarlet Letter, “A Forest Walk,” carefully before you choose your answers.

Hester Prynne remained constant in her resolve to make known to Mr. Dimmesdale, at whatever risk of present pain or ulterior consequences, the true character of the man who had crept into his intimacy. For several days, however, she vainly sought an opportunity of addressing him in some of the meditative walks (5) which she knew him to be in the habit of taking, along the shores of the peninsula, or on the wooded hills of the neighboring country. There would have been no scandal, indeed, nor peril to the holy whiteness of the clergyman’s good fame, had she visited him in his own study, where many a penitent, ere now, had confessed sins of perhaps as deep a dye as the one betokened by the scarlet letter. But, partly (10) that she dreaded the secret or undisguised interference of old Roger Chillingworth, and partly that her conscious heart imputed suspicion where none could have been felt, and partly that both the minister and she would need the whole wide world to breathe in, while they talked together–for all these reasons, Hester never thought of meeting him in any narrower privacy than beneath the open sky. (15) At last, while attending in a sick-chamber, whither the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale had been summoned to make a prayer, she learnt that he had gone, the day before, to visit the Apostle Eliot, among his Indian converts. He would probably return, by a certain hour, in the afternoon of the morrow. Betimes, therefore, the next day, Hester took little Pearl–who was necessarily the companion (20) of all her mother’s expeditions, however inconvenient her presence–and set forth. The road, after the two wayfarers had crossed from the peninsula to the mainland, was no other than a footpath. It straggled onward into the mystery of the primeval forest. This hemmed it in so narrowly, and stood so black and dense on either side, and disclosed such imperfect glimpses of the sky above, that, to (25) Hester’s mind, it imaged not amiss the moral wilderness in which she had so long been wandering. The day was chill and sombre. Overhead was a gray expanse of cloud, slightly stirred, however, by a breeze; so that a gleam of flickering sunshine might now and then be seen at its solitary play along the path. This flitting cheerfulness was always at the farther extremity of some long vista through the (30) forest. The sportive sunlight–feebly sportive, at best, in the predominant pensiveness of the day and scene–withdrew itself as they came nigh, and left the spots where it had danced the drearier, because they had hoped to find them bright. “Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now see! There it is, (35) playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” “Nor ever will, my child, I hope,” said Hester. “And why not, mother?” asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. “Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?” (40) “Run away, child,” answered her mother, “and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone.” Pearl set forth, at a great pace, and, as Hester smiled to perceive, did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendor, and scintillating with the vivacity excited by rapid motion. The light (45) lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate, until her mother had drawn almost nigh enough to step into the magic circle too. “It will go now,” said Pearl, shaking her head. “See!” answered Hester, smiling. “Now I can stretch out my hand, and grasp some of it.” (50) As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl’s features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam


about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade. There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted (55) vigor in Pearl’s nature, as this never-failing vivacity of spirits; she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children, in these latter days, inherit, with the scrofula, from the troubles of their ancestors. Perhaps this too was a disease, and but the reflex of the wild energy with which Hester had fought against her sorrows before Pearl’s birth. It was certainly a doubtful charm, imparting a hard, metallic (60) lustre to the child’s character. She wanted–what some people want throughout life–a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanize and make her capable of sympathy. But there was time enough yet for little Pearl.

54. The narrator hints in the first paragraph that (A) Hester’s sin is not unique in the community (B) the minister is concerned about causing a scandal (C) any interference from Chillingworth would be cleverly concealed (D) the minister’s reputation has begun to suffer (E) Hester knows that she and the minister will not truly have privacy outdoors 55. The subject of the main clause in the sentence beginning “But, partly that she dreaded . . .” (lines 9-14) is (A) “she” (line 10) (B) “heart” (line 11) (C) “the minister and she” (line 12) (D) “they” (line 13) (E) “Hester” (line 13) 56. The personification of the sunshine contributes to the passage primarily by (A) underscoring the Puritan concept of sin (B) highlighting a contrast between Hester and Pearl (C) providing a contrast to the non-personified clouds and breeze (D) heightening the expectation of the minister’s appearance (E) evoking the reader’s sympathy for Pearl 57. In context of the passage, Hester would most likely describe Pearl as (A) inquisitive and morose (B) rebellious and spiteful (C) imaginative and compassionate (D) creative and obedient (E) enigmatic and energetic 58. The antecedent of “this” (line 57) is (A) “vigor” (line 55) (B) “vivacity” (line 55) (C) “sadness” (line 56) (D) “scrofula” (line 57) (E) “troubles” (line 57)


59. In context, the word “wanted” in line 60 is best understood to mean (A) lacked (B) needed (C) sought (D) desired (E) longed for 60. The final sentence of the passage is most likely an example of (A) allusion (B) antithesis (C) foreshadowing (D) irony (E) symbolism


Passage 9, Questions 61-68. Read the following passage from Chapter 18 of The Scarlet Letter, “A Flood of Sunshine,” carefully before you choose your answers.

Arthur Dimmesdale gazed into Hester’s face with a look in which hope and joy shone out, indeed, but with fear betwixt them, and a kind of horror at her boldness, who had spoken what he vaguely hinted at but dared not speak. But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a (5) period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest, amid the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide their fate. Her intellect and heart had their home, as it (10) were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods. For years past she looked from this estranged point of view at human institutions, and whatever priests or legislators have established; criticizing all with hardly more reverence than the Indian would feel for the clerical band, the judicial robe, the pillory, the gallows, the fireside, or the church. The tendency of her fate and (15) fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers–stern and wild ones–and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss. The minister, on the other hand, had never gone through an experience (20) calculated to lead him beyond the scope of generally received laws; although, in a single instance, he had so fearfully transgressed one of the most sacred of them. But this had been a sin of passion, not of principle, nor even purpose. Since that wretched epoch, he had watched, with morbid zeal and minuteness, not his acts–for those it was easy to arrange–but each breath of emotion, and his every thought. At (25) the head of the social system, as the clergymen of that day stood, he was only the more trammelled by its regulations, its principles, and even its prejudices. As a priest, the framework of his order inevitably hemmed him in. As a man who had sinned, but who kept his conscience all alive and painfully sensitive by the fretting of an unhealed wound, he might have been supposed safer within the line of virtue (30) than if he had never sinned at all. Thus, we seem to see that, as regarded Hester Prynne, the whole seven years of outlaw and ignominy had been little other than a preparation for this very hour. But Arthur Dimmesdale! Were such a man once more to fall, what plea could be urged in extenuation of his crime? None; unless it avail him somewhat, that he was (35) broken down by long and exquisite suffering; that his mind was darkened and confused by the very remorse which harrowed it; that between fleeing as an avowed criminal, and remaining as a hypocrite, conscience might find it hard to strike the balance; that it was human to avoid the peril of death and infamy, and the inscrutable machinations of an enemy; that, finally, to this poor pilgrim, on his (40) dreary desert path, faint, sick, miserable, there appeared a glimpse of human affection and sympathy, a new life, and a true one, in exchange for the heavy doom which he was now expiating. And be the stern and sad truth spoken, that the breach which guilt has once made into the human soul is never, in this mortal state, repaired. It may be watched and guarded; so that the enemy shall not force his way (45) again into the citadel, and might even, in his subsequent assaults, select some other avenue, in preference to that where he had formerly succeeded. But there is still the ruined wall, and, near it, the stealthy tread of the foe that would win over again his unforgotten triumph.


61. The first two paragraphs are each followed by a paragraph which provides (A) an elaboration (B) a contrast (C) a qualification (D) an example (E) an analogy 62. In the second paragraph, the author includes all of the following rhetorical devices EXCEPT (A) analogy (B) simile (C) metonymy (D) personification (E) euphemism 63. In the second paragraph, the narrator (A) evinces his approval of Hester’s point of view (B) remains an objective chronicler of events (C) praises the Puritan society (D) qualifies an otherwise sympathetic description of Hester (E) reveals his unadulterated admiration for the “wild Indian” 64. In the third paragraph, the description of the minister is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT (A) absolutes (B) parallel construction (C) generalization (D) alliteration (E) Biblical allusions 65. The phrase “unless it avail him somewhat” (line 34) serves to introduce I. a series of possible justifications for the minister’s eventual decision II. an answer to a rhetorical question posed earlier III. an ironic description of the minister before his second “fall” (A) I only (B) II only (C) I and II only (D) II and III only (E) I, II, and III


66. “The citadel” (line 45) is most likely a reference to (A) “the stern and sad truth” (line 42) (B) “the breach” (line 43) (C) “guilt” (line 43) (D) “the human soul” (line 43) (E) “this mortal state” (line 43) 67. In the fourth paragraph, beginning “Thus, we seem to see that . . .” (line 31), the narrator’s sympathy for Dimmesdale is conveyed primarily through his choice of (A) adjectives (B) verbs (C) adverbs (D) sentence structure (E) similes 68. The narrator describes both Hester and Dimmesdale as (A) being tormented by unhealed wounds (B) fighting an inscrutable enemy (C) wandering in a desert (D) being trammeled by society’s regulations (E) criticizing Puritan institutions


Passage 10, Questions 69-75. Read the following passage from Chapter 22 of The Scarlet Letter, “The Procession,” carefully before you choose your answers.

During all this time, Hester stood, statue-like, at the foot of the scaffold. If the minister’s voice had not kept her there, there would nevertheless have been an inevitable magnetism in that spot, whence she dated the first hour of her life of ignominy. There was a sense within her,–too ill-defined to be made a thought, but (5) weighing heavily on her mind–that her whole orb of life, both before and after, was connected with this spot, as with the one point that gave it unity. Little Pearl, meanwhile, had quitted her mother’s side, and was playing at her own will about the market-place. She made the sombre crowd cheerful by her erratic and glistening ray; e-ven as a bird of bright plumage illuminates a whole tree (10) of dusky foliage by darting to and fro, half seen and half concealed amid the twilight of the clustering leaves. She had an undulating, but, oftentimes, a sharp and irregular movement. It indicated the restless vivacity of her spirit, which to-day was doubly indefatigable in its tiptoe dance, because it was played upon and vibrated with her mother’s disquietude. Whenever Pearl saw anything to excite her ever- (15) active and wandering curiosity, she flew thitherward, and, as we might say, seized upon that man or thing as her own property, so far as she desired it; but without yielding the minutest degree of control over her motions in requital. The Puritans looked on, and, if they smiled, were none the less inclined to pronounce the child a demon offspring, from the indescribable charm of beauty and eccentricity that shone (20) through her little figure, and sparkled with its activity. She ran and looked the wild Indian in the face; and he grew conscious of a nature wilder than his own. Thence, with native audacity, but still with a reserve as characteristic, she flew into the midst of a group of mariners, the swarthy-cheeked wild men of the ocean, as the Indians were of the land; and they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at Pearl, as if a flake (25) of the sea-foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted with a soul of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the night-time. One of these seafaring men–the shipmaster, indeed, who had spoken to Hester Prynne–was so smitten with Pearl’s aspect, that he attempted to lay hands upon her, with purpose to snatch a kiss. Finding it as impossible to touch her as to catch a (30) humming-bird in the air, he took from his hat the gold chain that was twisted about it, and threw it to the child. Pearl immediately twined it around her neck and waist, with such happy skill, that, once seen there, it became a part of her, and it was difficult to imagine her without it. “Thy mother is yonder woman with the scarlet letter,” said the seaman. “Wilt (35) thou carry her a message from me?” “If the message pleases me, I will,” answered Pearl. “Then tell her,” rejoined he, “that I spake again with the black-a-visaged, hump-shouldered old doctor, and he engages to bring his friend, the gentleman she wots of, aboard with him. So let thy mother take no thought, save for herself and (40) thee. Wilt thou tell her this, thou witch-baby?” “Mistress Hibbins says my father is the Prince of the Air!” cried Pearl, with a naughty smile. “If thou callest me that ill name, I shall tell him of thee, and he will chase thy ship with a tempest!” Pursuing a zigzag course across the market-place, the child returned to her (45) mother, and communicated what the mariner had said. Hester’s strong, calm, steadfastly enduring spirit almost sank, at last, on beholding this dark and grim countenance of an inevitable doom, which–at the moment when a passage seemed to open for the minister and herself out of their labyrinth of misery–showed itself, with an unrelenting smile, right in the midst of their path. (50) With her mind harassed by the terrible perplexity in which the shipmaster’s intelligence involved her, she was also subjected to another trial. There were many people present, from the country round about, who had often heard of the scarlet


letter, and to whom it had been made terrific by a hundred false or exaggerated rumors, but who had never beheld it with their own bodily eyes. These, after (55) exhausting other modes of amusement, now thronged about Hester Prynne with rude and boorish intrusiveness. Unscrupulous as it was, however, it could not bring them nearer than a circuit of several yards. At that distance they accordingly stood, fixed there by the centrifugal force of the repugnance which the mystic symbol inspired. The whole gang of sailors, likewise, observing the press of spectators, and (60) learning the purport of the scarlet letter, came and thrust their sunburnt and desperado-looking faces into the ring. Even the Indians were affected by a sort of cold shadow of the white man’s curiosity, and gliding through the crowd, fastened their snake-like black eyes on Hester’s bosom; conceiving, perhaps, that the wearer of this brilliantly embroidered badge must needs be a personage of high dignity (65) among her people. Lastly, the inhabitants of the town (their own interest in this worn-out subject languidly reviving itself, by sympathy with what they saw others feel) lounged idly to the same quarter, and tormented Hester Prynne, perhaps more than all the rest, with their cool, well-acquainted gaze at her familiar shame. Hester saw and recognized the self-same faces of that group of matrons, who had awaited (70) her forthcoming from the prison-door, seven years ago; all save one, the youngest and only compassionate among them, whose burial-robe she had since made. At the final hour, when she was so soon to fling aside the burning letter, it had strangely become the centre of more remark and excitement, and was thus made to sear her breast more painfully than at any time since the first day she put it on.

69. It can be inferred from the passage that Hester considers her shame to have begun when (A) she sinned with the minister (B) Pearl was born (C) she saw Chillingworth enter the market-place with the ship’s captain (D) she stood on the scaffold before the community (E) she found it impossible to restrain Pearl’s wild personality 70. In context, the word “engages” (line 38) is best interpreted to mean (A) agrees (B) hires (C) intends (D) promises (E) makes provision 71. The “doom” Hester dreads (line 47) is emphasized by means of which of the following? (A) allusion (B) simile (C) metaphor (D) allegory (E) personification


72. The antecedent of “it” in the clause “it could not bring them nearer” (lines 56-57) is (A) “intelligence” (line 51) (B) “trial” (line 51) (C) “letter” (line 53) (D) “amusement” (line 55) (E) “intrusiveness” (line 56) 73. The tone of the clause “whose burial robe she had since made” (line 71) may be described as (A) elegiac (B) agitated (C) despairing (D) didactic (E) resentful 74. The central descriptions of Pearl rely on images of I. motion II. light III. sound (A) I only (B) I and II only (C) I and III only (D) II and III only (E) I, II, and III 75. The narrator characterizes Pearl by means of all of the following EXCEPT (A) description of her actions (B) description of Hester’s response to Pearl’s words (C) direct narrative explanation (D) description of the reactions of other characters to Pearl (E) figurative language


Passage 11, Questions 76-82. Read the following passage from Chapter 23 of The Scarlet Letter, “The Revelation,” carefully before you choose your answers.

Now was heard again the clangor of music, and the measured tramp of the military escort, issuing from the church-door. The procession was to be marshalled thence to the town-hall, where a solemn banquet would complete the ceremonies of the day. (5) Once more, therefore, the train of venerable and majestic fathers was seen moving through a broad pathway of the people, who drew back reverently, on either side, as the Governor and magistrates, the old and wise men, the holy ministers, and all that were eminent and renowned, advanced into the midst of them. When they were fairly in the market-place, their presence was greeted by a shout. This–though (10) doubtless it might acquire additional force and volume from the childlike loyalty which the age awarded to its rulers–was felt to be an irrepressible outburst of enthusiasm kindled in the auditors by that high strain of eloquence which was yet reverberating in their ears. Each felt the impulse in himself, and, in the same breath, caught it from his neighbor. Within the church, it had hardly been kept down; (15) beneath the sky, it pealed upward to the zenith. There were human beings enough, and enough of highly wrought and symphonious feeling, to produce that more impressive sound than the organ tones of the blast, or the thunder, or the roar of the sea; even that mighty swell of many voices, blended into one great voice by the universal impulse which makes likewise one vast heart out of the many. Never, (20) from the soil of New England, had gone up such a shout! Never, on New England soil, had stood the man honored by his mortal brethren as the preacher. How fared it with him then? Were there not the brilliant particles of a halo in the air about his head? So etherealized by spirit as he was, and so apotheosized by worshipping admirers, did his footsteps, in the procession, really tread upon the dust (25) of earth? As the ranks of military men and civil fathers moved onward, all eyes were turned towards the point where the minister was seen to approach among them. The shout died into a murmur, as one portion of the crowd after another obtained a glimpse of him. How feeble and pale he looked, amid all his triumph! The energy— (30) or say, rather, the inspiration which had held him up until he should have delivered the sacred message that brought its own strength along with it from Heaven–was withdrawn, now that it had so faithfully performed its office. The glow, which they had just before beheld burning on his cheek, was extinguished, like a flame that sinks down hopelessly among the late-decaying embers. It seemed (35) hardly the face of a man alive, with such a deathlike hue; it was hardly a man with life in him that tottered on his path so nervelessly, yet tottered, and did not fall! One of his clerical brethren–it was the venerable John Wilson–observing the state in which Mr. Dimmesdale was left by the retiring wave of intellect and sensibility–stepped forward hastily to offer his support. The minister tremulously, (40) but decidedly, repelled the old man’s arm. He still walked onward, if that movement could be so described, which rather resembled the wavering effort of an infant with its mother’s arms in view, outstretched to tempt him forward. And now, almost imperceptible as were the latter steps of his progress, he had come opposite the well-remembered and weather-darkened scaffold, where, long since, with all (45) that dreary lapse of time between, Hester Prynne had encountered the world’s ignominious stare. There stood Hester, holding little Pearl by the hand! And there was the scarlet letter on her breast! The minister here made a pause, although the music still played the stately and rejoicing march to which the procession moved. It summoned him onward–onward to the festival!–but here he made a pause. (50) Bellingham, for the last few moments, had kept an anxious eye upon him. He now left his own place in the procession, and advanced to give assistance, judging, from Mr. Dimmesdale’s aspect, that he must otherwise inevitably fall. But there


was something in the latter’s expression that warned back the magistrate, although a man not readily obeying the vague intimations that pass from one spirit to another. (55) The crowd, meanwhile, looked on with awe and wonder. This earthly faintness was, in their view, only another phase of the minister’s celestial strength; nor would it have seemed a miracle too high to be wrought for one so holy, had he ascended before their eyes, waxing dimmer and brighter, and fading at last into the light of heaven.

76. In the first two paragraphs, the narrator conveys the mood of the market-place by means of all of the following EXCEPT (A) exclamation (B) hyperbolic language (C) simile (D) personification (E) connotative adjectives 77. The primary function of the phrase “though doubtless” (lines 9-10) is to (A) illustrate a previous assertion (B) characterize the Puritan rulers (C) concede the validity of certain qualifications (D) characterize the society as childish (E) give examples of the enthusiasm of the crowd 78. The sentence beginning “Within the church” (lines 14-15) is an example of a(n) (A) cumulative sentence (B) understatement (C) oxymoron (D) balanced sentence (E) paradox 79. The purpose of the third paragraph is to provide a transition from I. a description of the crowd to a description of the minister II. the narrator’s praise to the narrator’s censure III. images of power to images of weakness (A) I only (B) II only (C) I and III only (D) II and III only (E) I, II, and III


80. The antecedent for “it” (line 31) is (A) “murmur” (line 28) (B) “inspiration” (line 30) (C) “message” (line 31) (D) “strength” (line 31) (E) “Heaven” (line 32) 81. From the passage, it can be inferred that Bellingham (A) was not particularly sensitive to indirect communication (B) considered himself to be the person in authority in the community (C) resented the enthusiasm of Dimmesdale’s reception (D) believed Dimmesdale’s strength to be miraculous (E) thought Dimmesdale’s weakness was an important sign 82. In the context of the novel as a whole, the crowd’s assessment of Dimmesdale’s faintness (lines 55-59) is best described as (A) satiric (B) ironic (C) realistic (D) brash (E) accepting


Passage 12, Questions 83-90. Read the following passage from Chapter 24 of The Scarlet Letter, “Conclusion,” carefully before you choose your answers.

After many days, when time sufficed for the people to arrange their thoughts in reference to the foregoing scene, there was more than one account of what had been witnessed on the scaffold. Most of the spectators testified to having seen, on the breast of the unhappy (5) minister, a SCARLET LETTER–the very semblance of that worn by Hester Prynne–imprinted in the flesh. As regarded its origin, there were various explanations, all of which must necessarily have been conjectural. Some affirmed that the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, on the very day when Hester Prynne first wore her ignominious badge, had begun a course of penance–which he afterwards, in so (10) many futile methods, followed out–by inflicting a hideous torture on himself. Others contended that the stigma had not been produced until a long time subsequent, when old Roger Chillingworth, being a potent necromancer, had caused it to appear, through the agency of magic and poisonous drugs. Others, again–and those best able to appreciate the minister’s peculiar sensibility, and the wonderful (15) operation of his spirit upon the body–whispered their belief, that the awful symbol was the effect of the ever-active tooth of remorse, gnawing from the inmost heart outwardly, and at last manifesting Heaven’s dreadful judgment by the visible presence of the letter. The reader may choose among these theories. We have thrown all the light we could acquire upon the portent, and would gladly, now that it (20) has done its office, erase its deep print out of our own brain, where long meditation has fixed it in very undesirable distinctness. It is singular, nevertheless, that certain persons, who were spectators of the whole scene, and professed never once to have removed their eye from the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, denied that there was any mark whatever on his breast, (25) more than on a new-born infant’s. Neither, by their report, had his dying words acknowledged, nor even remotely implied, any, the slightest connection, on his part, with the guilt for which Hester Prynne had so long worn the scarlet letter. According to these highly respectable witnesses, the minister, conscious that he was dying–conscious, also, that the reverence of the multitude placed him already (30) among saints and angels–had desired, by yielding up his breath in the arms of that fallen woman, to express to the world how utterly nugatory is the choicest of man’s own righteousness. After exhausting life in his efforts for mankind’s spiritual good, he had made the manner of his death a parable, in order to impress on his admirers the mighty and mournful lesson that, in the view (35) of Infinite Purity, we are sinners all alike. It was to teach them that the holiest among us has but attained so far above his fellows as to discern more clearly the Mercy which looks down, and repudiate more utterly the phantom of human merit, which would look aspiringly upward. Without disputing a truth so momentous, we must be allowed to consider this version of Mr. Dimmesdale’s story as only an (40) instance of that stubborn fidelity with which a man’s friends–and especially a clergyman’s–will sometimes uphold his character, when proofs, clear as the midday sunshine on the scarlet letter, establish him a false and sin-stained creature of the dust. The authority which we have chiefly followed–a manuscript of old date, drawn (45) up from the verbal testimony of individuals, some of whom had known Hester Prynne, while others had heard the tale from contemporary witnesses–fully confirms the view taken in the foregoing pages. 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, (50) yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred! Nothing was more remarkable than the change which took place, almost immediately after Mr. Dimmesdale’s death, in the appearance and demeanor of the


old man known as Roger Chillingworth. All his strength and energy–all his vital and intellectual force–seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively (55) withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun. This unhappy man had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of revenge; and when, by its completest triumph and consummation, that evil principle was left with no further material to support it, when, in short, there was no more Devil’s work on (60) earth for him to do, it only remained for the unhumanized mortal to betake himself whither his Master would find him tasks enough, and pay him his wages duly. But, to all these shadowy beings, so long our near acquaintances–as well Roger Chillingworth as his companions–we would fain be merciful. It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. (65) Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart- knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his subject. Philosophically considered, therefore, the two passions seem essentially the same, (70) except that one happens to be seen in a celestial radiance, and the other in a dusky and lurid glow. In the spiritual world, the old physician and the minister–mutual victims as they have been–may, unawares, have found their earthly stock of hatred and antipathy transmuted into golden love.

83. The narrator’s perspective in the passage is primarily that of (A) an uninvolved eyewitness (B) a defender of Puritan society (C) an acquaintance of the minister (D) a reporter of historical accounts (E) an admirer of Dimmesdale’s defenders 84. The word “any” (line 26) most likely modifies (A) “words” (line 25) (B) “report” (line 25) (C) “part” (line 26) (D) “guilt” (line 27) (E) “letter” (line 27) 85. The narrator’s attitude toward those who viewed Dimmesdale’s words as a parable could best be described as one of (A) contemptuous scorn (B) righteous indignation (C) incredulous dismissal (D) indulgent skepticism (E) admiring acceptance


86. It can be inferred that the narrator believes Dimmesdale may have been spared his downfall had he (A) been honest with Hester (B) avoided Roger Chillingworth (C) not exhausted himself on behalf of his congregation (D) had a different, less peculiar sensibility (E) in some way revealed his guilt to the community 87. The narrator characterizes Roger Chillingworth by means of (A) an allegory (B) a simile (C) an allusion (D) a metaphor (E) an anecdote 88. The “material” mentioned in line 59 is best understood to refer to (A) Hester’s punishment (B) Chillingworth’s magic (C) the community’s support (D) Pearl’s distrust of the minister (E) Dimmesdale’s secret 89. The narrator implies that the difference between hatred and love is primarily one of (A) effect (B) expression (C) perception (D) intensity (E) origin 90. The tone of the final sentence is most consistent with the narrator’s stated desire to (A) allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusion (B) underscore the moral of the story (C) reinforce his own objectivity (D) be merciful in his portrayal of each character (E) emphasize the minister’s righteousness


Free-Response Questions


Question 1

(Suggested time—40 minutes) In the following passage from The Scarlet Letter, the narrator introduces the reader to the Puritan community of the novel. Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay analyzing how the narrator’s description of the Puritans and their community suggests his attitude toward them. You might consider such elements as selection of detail, manipulation of language, and tone.

The grass-plot before the jail, in Prison Lane, on a certain summer morning, not less than two centuries ago, was occupied by a pretty large number of the inhabitants of Boston, all with their eyes intently fastened on the iron-clamped oaken door. Amongst any other population, or at a later period in the history of (5) New England, the grim rigidity that petrified the bearded physiognomies of these good people would have augured some awful business in hand. It could have betokened nothing short of the anticipated execution of some noted culprit, on whom the sentence of a legal tribunal had but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment. But, in that early severity of the Puritan character, an inference of this (10) kind could not so indubitably be drawn. It might be that a sluggish bond-servant, or an undutiful child, whom his parents had given over to the civil authority, was to be corrected at the whipping-post. It might be, that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodox religionist was to be scourged out of the town, or an idle and vagrant Indian, whom the white man’s fire-water had made riotous about the streets, was to (15) be driven with stripes into the shadow of the forest. It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows. In either case, there was very much the same solemnity of demeanor on the part of the spectators; as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly (20) interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful. Meagre, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for from such by-standers, at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penalty, which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of (25) death itself. It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a particular interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of impropriety (30) restrained the wearers of petticoats and farthingale from stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng nearest to the scaffold at an execution. Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fibre in those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair descendants, separated from them by a series of six or seven (35) generations; for, throughout that chain of ancestry, every successive mother has transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame, if not a character of less force and solidity, than her own. The women who were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the not altogether (40) unsuitable representative of the sex. They were her country-women; and the beef and ale of their native land, with a moral diet not a whit more refined, entered largely into their composition. The bright morning sun, therefore, shone on broad shoulders and well-developed busts, and on round and ruddy cheeks, that had ripened in the far-off island, and had hardly yet grown paler or thinner in the (45) atmosphere of New England. There was, moreover, a boldness and rotundity of speech among these matrons, as most of them seemed to be, that would startle us at the present day, whether in respect to its purport or its volume of tone.


Question 2

(Suggested time—40 minutes) Note to teachers and students: On the English Literature and Composition Exam, students are given an open free-response question and a list of possible works from which to choose in answering the question. For the purposes of applied practice in class, the question given here was written with The Scarlet Letter in mind. However, the question could be applied to numerous literary works. It is important for students to understand that, on the actual exam, a student’s choice would not be restricted to a given work. In many novels, the author presents a character in whom there is a correlation between that character’s physical appearance and his or her mental, emotional, or moral state. Write an essay discussing an author’s presentation of such a character and how this correspondence between the physical and mental aspects of the character is related to the significant themes of the novel.


Question 3

(Suggested time—40 minutes) In chapter 16 of The Scarlet Letter, the narrator, using Pearl as an example of humankind in general, asserts that people are not truly “humanized” or capable of sympathy for others until they are deeply touched by grief. Write a carefully reasoned, persuasive essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies this assertion. Use evidence from your observation, experience, or reading to develop your position.


Question 4

(Suggested time—40 minutes)

In the following passage from The Scarlet Letter, the narrator describes Hester Prynne in her isolation from the Puritan community. In a well-organized essay, analyze the language and rhetorical devices the narrator uses to convey his attitude toward Hester and toward women in general.

The effect of the symbol–or, rather, of the position in respect to society that was indicated by it–on the mind of Hester Prynne herself, was powerful and peculiar. All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red-hot brand, and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, (5) which might have been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be repelled by it. Even the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change. It might be partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of demonstration in her manners. It was a sad transformation, too, that her rich and luxuriant hair had either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a (10) cap, that not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine. It was due in part to all these causes, but still more to something else, that there seemed to be no longer anything in Hester’s face for Love to dwell upon; nothing in Hester’s form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping in its embrace; nothing in Hester’s bosom, to make it ever again the pillow of Affection. (15) Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman. Such is frequently the fate, and such the stern development, of the feminine character and person, when the woman has encountered, and lived through, an experience of peculiar severity. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survive, the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or–and the outward (20) semblance is the same–crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more. The latter is perhaps the truest theory. She who has once been woman, and ceased to be so, might at any moment become a woman again if there were only the magic touch to effect the transfiguration. We shall see whether Hester Prynne were ever afterwards so touched, and so transfigured.


Question 5

(Suggested time—40 minutes) Note to teachers and students: On the English Literature and Composition Exam, students are given an open free-response question and a list of possible works from which to choose in answering the question. For the purposes of applied practice in class, the question given here was written with The Scarlet Letter in mind. However, the question could be applied to numerous literary works. It is important for students to understand that, on the actual exam, a student’s choice would not be restricted to a given work. The conflict which results when an individual follows the dictates of his or her own heart in defiance of the conventions or requirements of society is a common theme in literature. Choose a novel in which this theme is important. Write an essay in which you describe the conflict, analyze its effect upon a central character, and discuss the effectiveness of its resolution.


Question 6

(Suggested time—40 minutes) The narrator of The Scarlet Letter asserts in the conclusion that people should “Show freely to the world, if not [their] worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred.” Write a carefully reasoned, persuasive essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies this assertion. Use evidence from your observation, experience, or reading to develop your position.


Answer Key and Explanations

for

The Scarlet Letter

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ANSWER KEY FOR THE SCARLET LETTER 1. B 26. A 51. D 76. D 2. C 27. C 52. D 77. C 3. A 28. C 53. C 78. D 4. C 29. E 54. A 79. C 5. A 30. C 55. E 80. B 6. E 31. A 56. B 81. A 7. C 32. E 57. E 82. B 8. B 33. B 58. B 83. D 9. C 34. E 59. A 84. A 10. B 35. D 60. C 85. D 11. D 36. D 61. B 86. E 12. C 37. E 62. E 87. B 13. A 38. D 63. D 88. E 14. E 39. C 64. E 89. C 15. D 40. E 65. C 90. D 16. A 41. C 66. D 17. A 42. E 67. A 18. C 43. D 68. C 19. A 44. A 69. D 20. B 45. C 70. C 21. D 46. C 71. E 22. D 47. D 72. E 23. C 48. A 73. A 24. E 49. D 74. B 25. D 50. E 75. B


Multiple-Choice Answer Explanations


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ANSWER EXPLANATIONS

PASSAGE 1 1. (B) parallel construction. The parallel construction is most evident in the repetition of “It might be . . . .” The other devices listed are not evident in the discussion of the prisoner’s identity. Any hint of metaphor (C)—”fire-water” or hyperbole (A)—”petrified”—is not a prominent stylistic characteristic. 2. (C) “a more delicate and briefer beauty” (line 36). The speaker’s tone is consistently negative. However, he does say that the fairer descendants of these women have “a more delicate and briefer beauty.” This implies that some of the hardiness of the original Puritan women has been lost over the intervening generations. 3. (A) “speech” (line 46). The volume of tone clearly refers to the matrons’ “speech.” 4. (C) meaning. The narrator states that present-day listeners would be startled by the speech of these matrons--both its volume and its content, or meaning. 5. (A) are harsher in their judgments than are the ruling men. The fact that the women are dissatisfied with the prisoner’s sentence and that the man in the crowd is astonished at their hard words indicates that the women in general are harsher in their judgments than are the ruling men. The young wife (line 64) proves the exception, which eliminates choice C. 6. (E) rhetorical questions. The three rhetorical questions of the passage begin in lines 51, 66, and 69. The other devices are not evident in the passage. 7. (C) exposing the underlying implication of the “goodwife’s” words. The man in the crowd does not imply that any criticism of authority is wrong. He exposes the underlying implications of the goodwife’s words. Her words imply that without the threat of the gallows, women have no motivation to be virtuous and will thus “go astray.”

78 ©1998 by Applied Practice, Ltd., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved.Spiral-bound teacher pages may not be shared or reproduced.

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ANSWER EXPLANATIONS PASSAGE 2

8. (B) unstudied. “Unstudied” means “unpremeditated” or “natural.” The stranger has “endeavored to conceal” his physical deformity by the way he has arranged his clothing. However, he has made this arrangement appear to be natural (“seemingly careless”). The other choices do not fit the context. The negative connotations of “thoughtless” (D) make answer B the better choice. 9. (C) simile. The narrator employs a simile when he compares the stranger’s expression to a snake (line 25). 10. (B) “face” (line 26). It is the expression of the stranger’s face that has become calm. 11. (D) signal to Hester that she should not acknowledge him. It is evident that the signal is meant for Hester since the two are looking at each other. The stranger makes the gesture when he sees that Hester recognizes him. Given the negative description earlier in the paragraph, the signal is not likely an expression of sympathy (B). 12. (C) stranger. The main clause of the sentence is “the stranger had bent . . . .” “Stranger” is the subject. 13. (A) foreboding. A foreboding tone is one which seems to indicate some evil or harm to come. The physical description of this stranger, Hester’s strong reaction to him, his struggle to contain some powerful, dark emotion, and his warning signal to Hester combine to create an ominous or foreboding tone. 14. (E) assurance that the identity of the baby’s father will be revealed. The townsman does not express assurance that the identity of the baby’s father will be revealed. He does discuss his support for the magistrates (lines 69-73). He speculates that Hester’s being left alone led to her sin (lines 54-57). And he says the speculation about Master Prynne is that he “may be at the bottom of the sea.” He explains that Hester has “raised a great scandal” and that this is a community in which sin is “searched out and punished.” 15. (D) “‘have I her name rightly?’” (line 45). It is incongruous that the stranger is so disturbed and expresses such vehement determination that the “partner of her iniquity” be discovered when he is not even sure of the woman’s name. 16. (A) disarm. The careful reader will sense something ominous in this stranger’s appearance and actions. Therefore, his exaggerated courtesy, like his “seemingly careless” arrangement of his clothing, is probably purposeful. His most likely intention is to allay suspicion, or disarm.


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17. (A) scene (line 9). The scene described in the lines preceding line 16 was not only “converted into a kind of lurid triumph,” but it was also an event that would occur only once in Hester’s lifetime. 18. (C) I and III only. The “giant of stern features” with “his iron arm” is a personification (I) of the law. It is ironic (III) that Hester found support from “the very law that condemned her.” No understatement is evident in the passage. Choice C is the best answer. 19. (A) periodic structure. Since the main clause begins the sentence, and the sentence ends with a dependent clause, this is not a sentence with periodic structure. There are several verbals (B) in the sentence, including “kept,” “emerging,” and “having.” Parallelism (C) is apparent in the repetition of “It may be.” Repetition (D) is also found in the sentence (“so remote and so obscure”). Several subordinate clauses (E) appear in the sentence (“where the wildness of her nature might assimilate itself . . .”). 20. (B) posit explanations for a seemingly anomalous situation. The fact that Hester remains in this condemning community when she is in fact legally free to leave and begin a new life elsewhere seems anomalous. In the second and third paragraphs, the narrator posits various possible explanations (“It may . . . ,” “It might . . .” ) for this seemingly anomalous situation. 21. (D) prime example. In this community, Hester embodies all the characteristics of shame. She serves as the prime example or “general symbol” (line 24) of shame for the Puritans. 22. (D) “looked the idea in the face” and “hastened to bar it” (lines 60-61). Occasionally, Hester faces the fact that she may be remaining in the community to be near the man to whom she feels connected. However, she quickly banishes this idea and compels herself to find other explanations. This experience of contradictory emotions or ideas (ambivalence) is best illustrated by choice D. 23. (C) personal anecdote. There is no personal anecdote in the passage. There are several examples of A, parallel construction (e.g., lines 27-29); B, metaphors (e.g., lines 50-51); D, simile (e.g., line 53); and E, personification (e.g., lines 12-14).


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24. (E) is viewed as less than human. The serf is described as “property” and as “a commodity” comparable to “an ox, or a joint-stool.” These similes suggest that he is viewed as less than human. 25. (D) is not the governor’s contemporary. The narrator’s comment, “even as, in our own days, we scatter gilded volumes . . . “ (lines 30-31), is evidence that he is not the governor’s contemporary. 26. (A) Governor Bellingham. The main clause of the sentence is “Governor Bellingham had planned . . . .” “Governor Bellingham” is the subject. 27. (C) respectful. The narrator’s positive description of the armor and his praise of Governor Bellingham as “a soldier as well as a statesman and ruler” (line 57) are respectful in tone. They are not so overstated as to be fawning (E). 28. (C) “suit” (line 45). The suit of mail had been manufactured by an armorer in London. Thus, “suit” is the antecedent. 29. (E) “in order to.” When Pearl tells Hester to look at the armor, Hester obliges “in order to” humor Pearl. The other choices would not rephrase “by way of” accurately. 30. (C) historical references. The references to the Pequot war and to Bacon, Coke, Noye, and Finch are historical references. The other elements are not evident in this passage.


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31. (A) litotes. The stranger’s “intellectual cultivation” is clearly of great depth and scope, so the phrase “of no moderate depth or scope” is an assertion made by means of understatement, or litotes. 32. (E) “range and freedom” (line 11). Dimmesdale is startled to find such a “range and freedom of ideas” in the physician. The other choices do not describe that which startles or shocks the minister. 33. (B) That which is restrictive can also be comforting. After their discussions, with their range and freedom of ideas, the men retreat again into the orthodox. Earlier, the faith is described as confining the minister within an “iron framework” (line 19). However, this framework clearly gives him some comfort. The paradox reflected is that of choice B. 34. (E) “soul” (line 51). The main clause is “will the soul of the sufferer be dissolved.” The subject of the clause is “soul.” 35. (D) the perception of the community. The terms are applied in the context of the community’s desire that the minister have some companionship--if not from a wife, then at least from this seemingly benevolent man. The narrator has spoken of the physician in ominous tones, and Dimmesdale has felt discomfort in his presence. Thus, the positive terms represent only the perception of the community. 36. (D) I and III only. Choice II describes the minister’s own choice not to marry. Choices I and III describe Chillingworth’s determination to uncover Dimmesdale’s secrets. Chillingworth’s constant closeness to Dimmesdale becomes ominous in light of that determination. Choice D is the best answer. 37. (E) destruction and creation. There are no patterns of destruction and creation imagery in the passage. Choice A is evident in lines 17-22. Choice B is evident in lines 38-39 and in lines 50-52. Choice C is evident in lines 36-41. Choice D is evident in lines 28-52.


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38. (D) metaphorical allusions. The paragraph is not characterized by metaphorical allusions. Parallel structure is evident (e.g., “More than once . . .), as are exclamatory sentences. Hyperbolic language (e.g., lines 6-10) and rhetorical questions (lines 10-12) are also apparent. 39. (C) lack of specificity. The minister subtly saves himself from censure by neglecting to be specific about the nature of his sin. In lines 16-17, the narrator discusses the subtle hypocrisy of this “vague confession.” The minister is far from euphemistic, mollifying, or abstract. His language is harsh and vivid. His physical gestures are not evidence of his subtlety. 40. (E) penance. Dimmesdale must resort to the practices of Rome--scourging, keeping vigils--to satisfy his need for penance. He hides his scourge in his “secret closet” because the Puritans would be shocked by this old Roman Catholic practice of self-punishment. 41. (C) represented. Dimmesdale’s staring at his face in the mirror represents the way he constantly stares at his soul. 42. (E) paradox. It is seemingly a contradiction that the most “substantial things” are those which lack substance. However, this is true in a sense for Dimmesdale. It is a paradox. 43. (D) in spite of all that. These visions lack substance, yet in spite of all that, they are substantial in Dimmesdale’s experience. The other choices would not accurately restate the phrase. 44. (A) “around us” (line 56). With “around us,” the narrator includes the reader and humans in general in a discussion which had previously focused on Dimmesdale’s personal experience. 45. (C) “thought” (line 65). It is this “new thought” which might bring the minister “a moment’s peace.”


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46. (C) suggest that the public can be won over by a humble approach. The narrator says that the public “awards more than justice, when the appeal is made . . . to its generosity,” whereas it denies justice when justice is demanded. In other words, a humble approach, rather than a presumptuous one, will win over the public. 47. (D) an understatement. Not only had people forgiven Hester; they had begun to see the scarlet letter as a symbol of honor. The statement that they had forgiven her is an understatement. 48. (A) The rulers are more constrained in their thinking. The rulers share the prejudices of the people (lines 16-18), but the rulers’ prejudices are fortified, or strengthened, “by an iron framework.” Thus, their thinking is more restricted or constrained than the thinking of private individuals. 49. (D) it was thought it would have kept her. The people of the community have begun to believe the scarlet letter is sacred. They believe it would keep Hester safe from danger. Choice D is the best answer. Merely changing the pronoun to a proper noun (C) may make the phrase more precise, but it does not help make the phrase’s meaning more explicit. 50. (E) Personifications of abstractions now denied Hester. Now that Hester has become transformed, and her attractiveness has been withered up, these abstract emotions—Love, Passion, and Affection—are denied her. They are personified in the passage. The capitalization of the words also hints at personification. 51. (D) to bring about. A magic touch would make Hester a woman again and “bring about” a transfiguration. 52. (D) metonymy. A figure of speech in which the name of a thing is replaced by the name of something closely associated with it is a metonymy. Here, “The sword” replaces “war” or “violence” or “the military.” 53. (C) I and III only. Hester’s free speculation would be considered worse by the community than her original sin with the minister. Hester’s indulging in such speculation emphasizes her continued rebellion against the community’s standards. There is no evidence in the passage that Hester fears the community’s censure.


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54. (A) Hester’s sin is not unique in the community. In lines 6-9, the narrator hints that others with sins as serious as Hester’s have consulted the minister. The other choices are not supported by the paragraph. 55. (E) “Hester” (line 13). The main clause is “Hester never thought.” “Hester” is the subject. 56. (B) highlighting a contrast between Hester and Pearl. The focus here is on the way the sunshine disappears when Hester approaches, yet it seems to welcome Pearl. Symbolically, it highlights the contrast between the secretive Hester and her open, forthright daughter. 57. (E) enigmatic and energetic. Pearl is obviously energetic. The description of her in the final paragraph presents her as enigmatic to Hester (e.g., “her mother could have fancied . . .”). 58. (B) “vivacity” (line 55). The vivacity that Hester detects in Pearl is unlike “the disease of sadness” other children have. But the narrator says that perhaps this vivacity, too, is a disease. 59. (A) lacked. Pearl is not yet fully humanized because she lacks “a grief that should deeply touch her.” 60. (C) foreshadowing. This line suggests that Pearl will, in time, be deeply touched by grief. It is foreshadowing for the reader, who will begin looking for the instance when grief comes to Pearl.


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61. (B) a contrast. The second paragraph presents Hester as a contrast to Dimmesdale. The third paragraph, in turn, contrasts the minister’s experience to Hester’s. 62. (E) euphemism. Euphemism is not evident in the passage. The analogy (A) is between Hester and the “wild Indian.” A simile (B) is presented comparing the moral wilderness and the untamed forest. When the narrator uses “the fireside” to replace “the home” or “the judicial robe” to stand for “the justice system,” he is using metonymy (C). Feelings of shame, despair, and solitude are personified (D) as Hester’s teachers. 63. (D) qualifies an otherwise sympathetic description of Hester. The narrator seems sympathetic to Hester’s estrangement. He states that she has learned from her experience. However, he comments that her stern teachers have “taught her much amiss.” This statement that Hester is somehow in error qualifies an otherwise sympathetic portrayal. 64. (E) Biblical allusions. There are no Biblical allusions here. There are numerous absolutes (“never,” “inevitably,” “all”). Parallel structure is evident (“As a priest” . . . “As a man . . .”). The narrator generalizes about clergymen. Alliteration is apparent (line 22). 65. (C) I and II only. The phrase does introduce some justifications (lines 34-42). It also answers the rhetorical question of lines 33-34. The narrator is not being ironic but understanding and sympathetic. 66. (D) “the human soul” (line 43). In context, the citadel, as the human soul, must be watched and guarded against the enemy’s attacks. 67. (A) adjectives. The many adjectives the narrator uses to describe the minister and his suffering clearly convey his sympathy (“long,” “exquisite,” “poor,” “dreary,” “faint,” “sick,” “miserable”). 68. (C) wandering in a desert. In lines 6-10, Hester is described as wandering in a moral wilderness and “in desert places.” In lines 39-42, Dimmesdale is described as a pilgrim on a “dreary desert path.”


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69. (D) she stood on the scaffold before the community. In lines 3-4, the scaffold is described as the place “whence she dated the first hour of her life of ignominy.” 70. (C) intends. The shipmaster informs Hester, through Pearl, of Chillingworth’s intention to bring Dimmesdale to the ship. There is no hint of an agreement or promise made by Chillingworth. 71. (E) personification. The doom shows itself with “an unrelenting smile.” It is thus personified. 72. (E) “intrusiveness” (line 56). The curious onlookers are rudely intrusive. It is this intrusiveness which, though unscrupulous, cannot get them any closer to Hester. 73. (A) elegiac. The compassionate young woman in the opening scene of the novel has since died. This detail about Hester making the burial-robe for the only woman who had defended her adds a note of sorrow to the narrative. As such, it may be described as elegiac in tone. 74. (B) I and II only. Pearl is described by means of numerous images of motion and of light. Although she speaks in the passage, she is not described through sound imagery. 75. (B) description of Hester’s response to Pearl’s words. Hester’s response to Pearl’s words is not described in the passage. The narrator describes Pearl’s actions (A) as noted above. The narrator explains (C) that her actions are caused by a “vivacity of spirit,” that she possesses “native audacity,” and that her smile is “naughty.” The reactions of the crowd, the shipmaster, and Mistress Hibbins to Pearl (D) further illuminate her character. The narrator employs numerous similes and metaphors (E), especially those comparing Pearl to various birds, to emphasize her energy and movements.


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76. (D) personification. Personification is not evident in the first two paragraphs. The narrator employs an exclamation in lines 19-20, hyperbolic language in lines 14-21, a simile in lines 16-19, and numerous connotative adjectives, for example, “solemn,” “majestic,” “holy,” “impressive.” 77. (C) concede the validity of certain qualifications. The people felt that the enthusiastic response to the arrival of the fathers in the market-place is an “irrepressible outburst” attributable to Dimmesdale’s eloquence. The phrase in question is a concession that at least part of the volume of the crowd’s response could “doubtless” be attributed to the “childlike loyalty which the age awarded to its rulers.” 78. (D) balanced sentence. The semi-colon separates two parallel clauses (“Within the church . . . ; beneath the sky . . . “). Thus, the sentence is balanced. The other answer choices to not apply to this sentence. 79. (C) I and III only. The second paragraph describes the crowd. The third paragraph turns to the minister and introduces his appearance in the fourth paragraph. The second paragraph contains numerous images of power and clamor. In contrast, the questions in the third paragraph provide a transition to the arrival of the feeble and pale minister. The narrator does not censure the minister in the passage. 80. (B) “inspiration” (line 30). The inspiration which helped Dimmesdale deliver his sermon has now been withdrawn, “now that it had so faithfully performed its office.” 81. (A) was not particularly sensitive to indirect communication. Lines 52-54 indicate that Governor Bellingham usually does not act upon “vague intimations” as he does here. The other answer choices are not supported by the passage. 82. (B) ironic. The crowd’s assumption that Dimmesdale’s faintness is attributable to his extreme holiness is ironic. The reader knows it is due to the guilt he has carried for years.


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83. (D) a reporter of historical accounts. In lines 44-47, the narrator makes clear that he is drawing upon historical accounts for his information. The other choices cannot be supported from the passage. 84. (A) “words” (line 25). “Any” could be rephrased as “any of them.” (None of Dimmesdale’s words acknowledged or implied the slightest connection with Hester’s guilt.) Given the complexity of the syntax, a student could support an argument that “any” refers to “connection.” However, of the answer choices given, A is the only possible answer. Given these choices, the student should be able to see how “any” would modify “words.” 85. (D) indulgent skepticism. The narrator’s comment on this explanation for Dimmesdale’s words is found in lines 38-43. His statement that people who offer such an explanation are ignoring “proofs, clear as the midday sunshine” shows his skepticism. However, he understands that such a “stubborn fidelity” is not unusual coming from “a man’s friends--and especially a clergyman’s.” Thus, he is indulgent toward those who insist on Dimmesdale’s holiness. He is not contemptuous, indignant, or incredulous toward those with this attitude. 86. (E) in some way revealed his guilt to the community. In the moral the narrator presents (lines 49-50), he makes clear that humans must show the world their worst, or at least give the world enough evidence to infer the worst. 87. (B) a simile. Chillingworth is characterized by means of a simile. He is compared to “an uprooted weed” (lines 55-56). 88. (E) Dimmesdale’s secret. The “material” that supported Chillingworth’s revenge, and which has now been withdrawn, is Dimmesdale’s secret. Now that all is revealed, Chillingworth has “no more Devil’s work” to do. 89. (C) perception. In lines 65-71, the narrator states that the two passions are the same, except for the way in which they are seen, or perceived. 90. (D) be merciful in his portrayal of each character. In lines 61-63, the narrator states his desire to be merciful to each person in the story, including Roger Chillingworth. Thus, his final sentence, in which he says both the physician and the minister may have found hatred “transmuted into golden love,” helps the narrator fulfill that purpose.


Free-Response Scoring Guide


GENERAL SCORING GUIDE FOR FREE-RESPONSE ESSAYS When grading the essay, it is important to remember the time limits under which students are working and to grade as for an in-class essay rather than an outside-of-class paper. Essays should be graded holistically; however, an essay that is full of grammatical or mechanical errors should not be scored higher than a 2. Essays on the Advanced Placement tests are scored on a system of 1 to 9, with 9 being the highest score possible. 9 These essays are exceptionally well written, show unusual insight into the topic, are very well

organized, and support assertions with appropriate examples. They remain focused on all aspects of the topic and present a unique writer’s voice.

8 These essays are very well written, show clear understanding of and focus on the topic, are

well organized, and usually support assertions with appropriate examples. They focus on all aspects of the topic and show a writer’s voice. They may have a few mechanical errors, but only very minor ones.

7-6 These essays are well written, show an understanding of the topic, and remain focused on

almost all aspects of it. A few assertions may lack specific examples, but the argument is clearly made. The writer’s voice is somewhat less mature than that of an 8-9 essay, but it is still evident. There may be a few errors in mechanics, but only minor ones.

5 These essays are for the most part well written, and usually remain focused on the topic, but

they fail to deal with all aspects of the topic. The assertions that are made may be somewhat vague in relation to the topic or a bit superficial in nature. The supporting examples may be missing occasionally or not well related to the topic. There seems to be some evidence of a writer’s voice, but not one of a unique nature. These essays are usually characterized by some minor errors in mechanics.

4-3 These essays have some problems with organization and coherence, tend to wander from the

topic in places, and deal only with one or two aspects of the topic, or with all aspects in only a superficial manner. The assertions that are made are too general in nature and are often unsupported by relevant examples. The writing demonstrates weak control of mechanics, and a writer’s voice is lacking or inconsistent.

2 These essays fail to focus on the topic clearly, stray repeatedly from the topic, or simply

restate the topic without any analysis. There is poor organization and focus in the writing, and the few assertions are generally unsupported. The writing is characterized by errors in mechanics and grammar.

1 These essays fail to deal with the topic, lack organization and coherence, and/or contain many

distracting mechanical and grammatical errors.


For a complete list including new titles and other Applied Practice curriculum,

visit www.appliedpractice.com

Applied Practice resource guides for AP* English are also available for these literary selections:

American Speeches Selections World Speeches Selections Contemporary Nonfiction Selections Nonfiction Selections Contemporary Poetry Selections Poetry Selections Mastering Nonfiction with Documentation Satire Selections Mastering Synthesis

Fiction and Nonfiction Titles 1984 Invisible Man Across Five Aprils Jane Eyre Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Julius Caesar The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Kite Runner Angela’s Ashes Life of Pi Animal Dreams Lord of the Flies Animal Farm Macbeth As I Lay Dying The Mayor of Casterbridge The Awakening A Midsummer Night’s Dream Beloved The Miracle Worker Beowulf Moby Dick Bless Me, Ultima Much Ado About Nothing Brave New World The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Selections from The Canterbury Tales Douglass The Call of the Wild Night The Catcher in the Rye The Odyssey The Count of Monte Cristo The Oedipus Trilogy Crime and Punishment Of Mice and Men The Crucible Othello Cry, the Beloved Country The Outsiders Death of a Salesman The Pearl The Diary of Anne Frank The Poisonwood Bible Ethan Frome A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Fahrenheit 451 Pride and Prejudice A Farewell to Arms Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Frankenstein Romeo and Juliet The Giver The Scarlet Letter The Grapes of Wrath The Secret Life of Bees Great Expectations A Separate Peace The Great Gatsby A Tale of Two Cities Gulliver’s Travels Tess of the d’Urbervilles Hamlet Their Eyes Were Watching God Heart of Darkness Things Fall Apart The Hobbit The Things They Carried Holes To Kill a Mockingbird The House on Mango Street Twelfth Night The Iliad The Watsons Go to Birmingham The Importance of Being Earnest Where the Red Fern Grows In Cold Blood Wuthering Heights

applied practice in · d. have each student develop a thesis statement. having each student write...

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