English 2130-27H

American Literature (Survey)

Fall 06

Patrick Erben

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Reading and Discussion Questions

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

1)Back to the Custom House (one more time, please!):

Can you detect any use of humor or irony in his “Custom-House” introduction? Does he ever undermine or self-scrutinize his own power or choices as storyteller? In other words, is irony or satire always at the expense of others (give examples of that, too), or does he also make sure that we don’t take the narrator/storyteller too seriously?

2)Larger questions/themes we will explore for The Scarlet Letter include:

  1. The most difficult up front: What do you think the story is “about”? What is it also “about”? (We will pick up this question at the beginning and at the end of our discussion of the book.)
  1. I asked about humor with regard to the “Custom-House” introduction. Is there any humor or fun or irony or joy in The Scarlet Letter itself?
  1. Author—Narrator—Text: After the strong autobiographical presence of the “Custom-House,” where is Hawthorne or the narrator in the main story?
  1. The town: Remember Hawthorne’s deep-seated ambiguity toward the quotidian life of contemporary Salem and his anguish over its Puritan past, embodied in his own ancestors. Compare his description of 19th-century Salem to the 17th-century town in the Scarlet Letter!
  1. How does the text deal with the problem of sin, good and evil?
  1. Individual sin vs. collective sin?
  2. Can it be extinguished, repented, even revealed? What is the relationship between revealing and shedding the effects of sin? What are the results of hidden sin?
  3. What is the relationship between human bodies and sin? (how does sin affect them?)
  4. Consider what Hawthorne says about gender inequality with regard to sin!
  5. Remember the basic grid of the Puritan conversion narrative (from humiliation/contrition to justification/assurance to sanctification)! How does the narrative (or any one particular character’s development) follow or deviate from this spiritual progression? How do souls get saved or lost in The Scarlet Letter?
  6. Is there any perfection in this story? Which, if any, of the characters is a model worth emulating? If so, why? Compare the text’s sense of sin, transgression, mistakes, salvation, improvement etc. with Franklin’s Autobiography!
  1. Crime and Punishment: In the “Custom-House” intro, Hawthorne imagines himself decapitated simply for being on the wrong side of the political spectrum. Why and for what do people in the Scarlet Letterget punished? What is the relationship between the severity of their crimes and their punishment? Does punishment lead to rehabilitation (a 20th century term) or even redemption?
  1. Authority and Power: How are power and authority distributed in The Scarlet Letter? How does the text look at patriarchal authority? Does rebel, confirm, subvert, question?
  1. Self and Community: What does the text say about the relationship between individuals and the communities/societies in which they live? Is there a right or wrong way to “behave”?
  1. The Problem of Knowledge: How do characters in the story gain knowledge of others, themselves, etc.? What causes deception? Is there a proper way of knowing? How do wegain knowledge in reading this knowledge (of the characters, their relationships, their histories, etc)? Are we ever deceived? What is the basis of our judgments? How do we judge characters, the events, etc.?
  1. Can you identify specific narrative techniques? Are they related to the content/theme of the story?
  1. How does Hawthorne create symbolism in this story? Does he align specific symbols with specific characters? What is the point of such connections?
  1. In what ways does he work with or play with religious symbolism?
  1. In how far is the environment a “character” in this story? What are the contrasts between human and non-human (i.e. natural) environments?
  1. What are we left with: Does the story/text give us any recommendations? Which questions does Hawthorne raise and which does he answer, which leave open?
  1. And a bit of deconstruction: Which opposites/binaries does Hawthorne play with, take apart, scrutinize, and redeploy?