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Week of 9/19
By maaron | September 16, 2011
Monday: Discuss theses and paragraphs, submit. Homework — Read chapters 12- 15
Tuesday: Small group questions on chapters 12 – 15. Review Image essays. Homework — finish questions you started in class today.
Wednesday: Is Dimmesdale worthy of sympathy? Of blame? Explain.
OR
Light. Upon what does light shine? Upon what does it not? What does the light or lack thereof signify?
Work on in class for 30 minutes, type up tonight. No more than one page.
Homework –Type up one page response you wrote in class. Submit to Mr. Randolph on Thursday. Read chs. 16 through 19 for Friday.
Thursday: (Ms. Sherwood)
Friday: What does the forest mean? Starting points — feminine, edenic, primeval, away from the morality of the town. Homework — Read chapter 20, 21, and 22. What maze is the minister in? (See the title of chapter 20.) What do the English possess that the colonists do not?
Topics: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
September 20th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Here are some possible topics for the in-class essay:
• Discuss the meaning of the scaffold. It bookends the novel and appears in the middle. Is its meaning consistent or changing? Is it a place of conflict or resolution? Or what?
• Analyze the character of Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth or Arthur Dimmesdale. What does the character represent? How does the character change and develop? What does Hawthorne reveal about his beliefs through this character?
• Analyze Pearl’s role in the novel. What does she represent and how does that change during the course of the novel?
• Discuss the role of the town and/or the role of the forest in The Scarlet Letter. What occurs there? What does it represent?
• Dimmesdale is in many ways as central a character as Hester in the novel; for you as a reader, is he equally important?
* One can read The Scarlet Letter as a conflict or battle between the natural world and the moral world. Explain this, paying particular attention to the imagery that Hawthorne presents.
* One could argue that Hawthorne calls not only Puritanism into question, but civilization into question. Explain.
• Explore parallel situations between any of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter and contemporary political or religious leaders you may have read about in the news.
* What does the forest mean?
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September 23rd, 2011 at 1:20 am
Have you/will you collect the discussion questions on chapters 12-15?
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