Dear Incoming Sophomore English Honors Students,

The Scarlet Letter is the summer reading for the transition from English 9H into English 10H. It is author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece, and many critics still regard it as one of the most important texts of the entire American literary canon. The following 3 sentence book-jacket description from Bantam Books puts it nicely: “Hailed by (the famous author) Henry James as ‘the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country,’ Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter reaches to our nation’s historical and moral roots for the material of great tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel shows the terrible impact a single, passionate act has on the lives of three members of the community: the defiant Hester Prynne; the fiery, tortured Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed, vengeful (Roger) Chillingworth. With The Scarlet LetterHawthorne became the first American novelist to forge from our Puritan heritage a universal classic, a masterful exploration of humanity’s unending struggle with sin, guilt and pride.”

This will not be an easy or quick read for you. Here is a list of suggestions to follow for how to read this text effectively and to enter the school year in August fully prepared.

  1. Do some online research, on or other websites packed with information, about Hawthorne (but be careful not to look at the plot of the book!). Also, do online research about the following topics that are important pieces of context for the novel:
  2. Romanticism
  3. Puritans
  4. The Puritan Migration
  5. The Massachusetts Bay Colony
  6. John Calvin
  7. The Protestant Reformation
  8. Christianity
  9. Read the entire book, including the introduction entitled “The Custom House,” and try to follow and enjoy the plot in all its mystery and intrigue with your first reading. You can check out the book from our school library, but I recommend that you purchase your own copy so that you can take notes in it. Take a look at the suggested pacing guide on the next page.
  10. You will find two attachments on this page entitled “Scarlet Letter Vocabulary” and “Vocabulary Strategies.” Yes the vocabulary list is long! You need to provide yourself with plenty of time to read and analyze the text, and to comprehend all of the vocabulary words used, so that you don’t miss any meaning in the story.
  11. Reread the text, annotating (taking notes and making comments in the margins or on scratch paper about what you’re reading) page by page
  12. As you annotate you want to notice and analyze the meaning of symbols that Hawthorne uses.
  13. Analyze the diction Hawthorne chooses and the meaning it creates.
  14. Analyze the details and imagery Hawthorne creates.
  15. Analyze the figures of speech (i.e. metaphors such as similes, personification, allusions, et)
  16. Analyzeliterary devices (i.e. irony, parallelism, et) that Hawthorne uses.
  17. Analyze how Hawthorne develops the characters of the text and how he structures it.
  18. Take your annotation and analysis beyond the superficial and obvious. For instance, it will be quite obvious what the capital letter A on Hester Prynne’s chest means, but think about other meanings behind this as well.
  19. Be prepared for assessments, including possible tests, essays, oral examinations and/or discussions of the text when you return to school in late August.

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*Please print your name, sign your name, and have your parent or guardian sign below indicating that you have read and understood this letter. Tear off this bottom portion and please return it to Mr. Hiett in room C12 or place it in his mailbox.

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Student NameStudent SignatureParent Signature

Sincerely,

Mr. Hiett

Suggested Pacing Guide for The Scarlet Letter

  1. Week 1 (June 12th – June 18th) – Do #1 of the letter, the research of important context
  2. Week 2 (June 19th – June 25th) – Read the Introduction entitled “The Custom House,” chapters 1-2, and work on vocabulary.
  3. Week 3 (June 26th – July 2nd) – Read chapters 3-8 and work on vocabulary.
  4. Week 4 (July 3rd – July 9th) – Read chapters 9-14 and work on vocabulary.
  5. Week 5 (July 10th – July 16th) – Read chapters 15-19 and work on vocabulary.
  6. Week 6 (July 17th – July 23rd) – Read chapters 20-24 and work on vocabulary.
  7. Week 7 (July 24th – July 30th) – Reread and annotate the introduction and chapters 1-3 while doing #4 and #5 on the letter.
  8. Week 8 (July 31st – August 6th) - Reread and annotate chapters 4-10 while doing #4 and #5 on the letter.
  9. Week 9 (August 7th – August 13th) - Reread and annotate chapters 11-17 while doing #4 and #5 on the letter.
  10. Week 10 (August 14th – August 20th) - Reread and annotate chapters 18-24 while doing #4 and #5 on the letter.

Group Study Suggestion: Get together with other students during the summer, especially the last 4 weeks, and analyze the text together. This is a great way to address questions you have about the text and to generate some thoughts about the text before you enter class.

The Scarlet Letter Vocabulary in order of appearance

See the back of this page for suggested strategies on how to acquire these words.

“The Custom House”

  1. genial
  2. prate
  3. prolix
  4. truculency
  5. vixenly
  6. rankling
  7. emoluments
  8. progenitor
  9. vicissitude
  10. torpid
  11. furrowed
  12. sagaciously
  13. obtuseness
  14. alacrity
  15. contrivance
  16. clarion
  17. imbue
  18. vitiated
  19. maw
  20. expiate
  21. palsied
  22. obstinacy
  23. malleable
  24. polemical
  25. stalwart
  26. heraldic
  27. esoteric
  28. vogue
  29. propriety
  30. encumbrance
  31. dearth
  32. evancescent
  33. cogitating
  34. decrepit
  35. exhorted
  36. pittance
  37. torpid
  38. inefficacious
  39. pith
  40. ignominiously
  41. predilections
  42. prolixity

Chapter 1

  1. edifice
  2. utopia
  3. sepulchers
  4. congenial
  5. inauspicious

Chapter 2

  1. physiognomies
  2. augured
  3. malefactresses
  4. beadle
  5. haughty
  6. sumptuous
  7. visage
  8. pillory
  9. mien
  10. contumely
  11. remonstrance

Chapter 3

  1. abate
  2. sojourn
  3. iniquity
  4. infamy

Chapter 4

  1. amenable
  2. expostulation
  3. paramour

Chapter 5

  1. galling
  2. superfluous
  3. penance
  4. voluptuous
  5. steadfast
  6. malice
  7. trifle
  8. martyr
  9. imbibed
  10. callous
  11. insidious
  12. irreverent
  13. venerable
  14. piety
  15. sullied
  16. averred
  17. incredulity

Chapter 6

  1. providence
  2. morbid
  3. procured
  4. prolific
  5. caprice
  6. delusive
  7. placidity
  8. inviolable
  9. enmity
  10. inalienable
  11. preternatural
  12. gesticulation
  13. capering
  14. query

Chapter 7

  1. pristine
  2. wan
  3. pallid
  4. cabalistic
  5. exigencies
  6. proprietor
  7. annals

Chapter 8

  1. expatiating
  2. benevolence
  3. catechism
  4. temporal
  5. indefeasible
  6. emaciated
  7. earnestness
  8. vehemence
  9. unobtrusive
  10. tarry

Chapter 9

  1. appellation
  2. chirurgical
  3. heterogeneous
  4. scrupulous
  5. parochial
  6. importunate
  7. sagacity
  8. erudition
  9. visage

Chapter 10

  1. sexton
  2. stealthily
  3. inimical
  4. propagate
  5. decorously
  6. mirth
  7. palliate
  8. somniferous

Chapter 11

  1. odious
  2. abstruse

Chapter 12

  1. firmament
  2. scurrilous
  3. portent

Chapter 13

  1. irksomeness
  2. requital
  3. despotic
  4. benign
  5. austerity
  6. obviated
  7. acquiescing

Chapter 14

  1. derisively
  2. gallows
  3. propinquity
  4. usurping

Chapter 15

  1. sedulous
  2. deleterious
  3. nuptial
  4. petulant
  5. idle
  6. precocity
  7. acrid
  8. propensity
  9. asperity

Chapter 16

  1. scintillating
  2. eddies
  3. loquacity
  4. lamentation
  5. repining
  6. vivacious

Chapter 17

  1. redemption
  2. Pentecost
  3. penance
  4. penitence
  5. malevolent
  6. contiguity
  7. misanthropy
  8. consecration
  9. satiating

Chapter 18

  1. colloquy
  2. irrevocably
  3. subjugated

Chapter 19

  1. prattle
  2. imperious
  3. inured
  4. mollified
  5. pallor
  6. tresses
  7. talisman

Chapter 20

  1. irrefragable
  2. obeisance
  3. impiety
  4. rapturously
  5. blight
  6. potentate
  7. ravenous
  8. careering

Chapter 21

  1. plebian
  2. metropolis
  3. seer
  4. quaff
  5. effluence
  6. aqua-vitae
  7. effervescence
  8. jocularity
  9. posterity
  10. buccaneer
  11. animadversion
  12. consternation

Chapter 22

  1. tempestuous
  2. necromancy
  3. pathos
  4. undulating
  5. indefatigable
  6. disquietude
  7. smitten
  8. centrifugal
  9. languidly

Chapter 23

  1. etherealized
  2. apotheosized

Chapter 24

  1. nugatory
  2. vainly
  3. prophetess
  4. apostle
  5. escutcheon

216 words total!

See the back of this page for suggested strategies on how to acquire these words.

Vocabulary Strategies

  • Apply any and all of the following strategies to assist with your acquisition of any vocabulary word.

Example word: pandemonium

  1. Definition (Well yeah we should start there!) - wild uproar or unrestrained disorder; tumult or chaos. a place or scene of riotous uproar or utter chaos.
  2. Part of speech (So that you know how the writer/speaker uses the word and how it relates to other words, such noun, verb, adverb, adjective, et) – noun.
  3. Synonyms (So that you can relate the word to other words you already know) – turmoil, commotion, maelstrom, riot, madhouse, bedlam, craziness

And

Antonyms (So that you can think of the word in opposition to words that you already know) – peace, quiet, calm, tranquility

  1. Identify someone you know or a celebrity as having this trait (adjective), or someone/something that does this or how they do it (verb/adverb), or a comparative place that is like this (noun). The riots that occurred in Los Angeles in 1992 created a scene of pandemonium.
  2. Look at how a writer uses a word by copying down the sentence it appears in from a text. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, in the midst of a wild courtroom scene that Mitty imagines, the narrator states, “Pandemonium broke loose in the courtroom. A woman’s scream rose above the bedlam and suddenly a lovely, dark-haired girl was in Walter Mitty’s arms.”
  3. Make up your own sentence using the word – “After the teacher left the students alone in the classroom, an atmosphere of pandemonium ensued.”
  4. Break the word up into its parts. Look up the meaning of the word’s prefix if it has one, its suffix if it has one, and its base/root, which every word has. Pandemonium is a useful word because it has all 3. Pan is the Greek prefix meaning “all.” The suffix “ium” is placed on nouns to denote the associated meaning of the rest of the word, and the root of the word, “demon” means an evil spirit. So the word means a place where all demons reside, which would be a wild, lawless, chaotic realm.
  5. Research and copy down some information about the word’s origins and history, if any is available. An English poet named John Milton was the first to coin the term in the 17th Century in his epic poem Paradise Lost, which is partially about Satan, a former angel in Heaven who fought against God, along with a 3rd of all the other angels, for control of the universe, were obviously defeated, and sent into Hell. Pandemonium is the capital of hell, where all these demons reside.
  6. If possible, translate the word into another language that you know. In French the word is “pandemonio”
  7. If you know of a pop cultural reference (a quote from a song, TV show or movie) that uses the word, copy it down. The Chinese fast food restaurant Panda Express is now using “Panda” monium for an advertisement for its food.
  8. Draw a picture of the word’s meaning, especially if you are a visual learner.