I. The Prison-Door Quiz — The Scarlet Letter

What are the first two structures that Hawthorne says every new colony builds?

• A church and a schoolhouse
• A cemetery and a prison
• A meetinghouse and a stockade
• A harbor and a trading post

How is the prison door described in Chapter I?

• Freshly painted and marked with the colony’s seal
• Made of pine with a simple latch
• Heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes
• Covered in ornate carvings depicting biblical scenes

What is growing in the grass-plot in front of the prison?

• Wildflowers and clover
• Corn and squash planted by the colonists
• Burdock, pigweed, and apple-peru
• Roses and lilies tended by prisoners

What grows beside the prison door?

• An ancient oak tree
• A wild rose-bush
• A patch of ivy
• A hawthorn hedge

According to the narrator, who may be connected to the origin of the rose-bush?

• Governor Bellingham
• John Winthrop
• Ann Hutchinson
• Roger Williams

What does Hawthorne call the prison metaphorically?

• The iron hand of justice
• The black flower of civilized society
• The dark heart of the colony
• The stone tomb of sinners

In what month is Chapter I set?

• September
• March
• June
• December

What does the narrator do with the rose at the end of the chapter?

• Leaves it on the bush as a symbol of hope
• Plucks it and presents it to the reader
• Places it on a prisoner’s grave
• Weaves it into the prison door

A character speaks dialogue in Chapter I.

The narrator mentions both a cemetery and a prison as early necessities of the colony.

What does "edifice" mean as used in the phrase "a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak"?

• A small cottage
• A large, imposing building
• A fence or barrier
• A ship’s hull

What does "inauspicious" mean in "our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal"?

• Grand and impressive
• Ancient and revered
• Not promising success; ominous
• Sacred and untouchable

What does "sepulchres" mean in the phrase "the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres"?

• Church congregations
• Government buildings
• Burial places or tombs
• Market stalls