XV. Hester and Pearl Practice Quiz — The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: XV. Hester and Pearl
What is Hester's emotional revelation as she watches Chillingworth walk away?
She admits she hates him, saying "Be it sin or no, I hate the man!" and later repeating it with even more bitterness.
What dark fantasy does Hester indulge about Chillingworth as he departs?
She imagines the grass withering beneath his feet, poisonous plants springing up in his wake, and a circle of ominous shadow moving with him wherever he goes.
Why does Hester blame Chillingworth for betraying her?
She believes he committed the original wrong by persuading an inexperienced young woman to believe she was happy in a loveless, unnatural marriage to an old scholar.
What does Pearl create from eel-grass on the seashore?
She fashions a letter A on her own bosom, imitating her mother's scarlet letter but in freshly green eel-grass instead of scarlet cloth.
How does the green A on Pearl's bosom contrast symbolically with Hester's scarlet A?
The green letter connects the symbol to nature, growth, and innocence, while the scarlet version represents sin, shame, and Puritan punishment.
What lie does Hester tell Pearl about the scarlet letter?
She says she wears it "for the sake of its gold thread," the first time in seven years she has been false to the symbol on her bosom.
How does Pearl connect the scarlet letter to Reverend Dimmesdale?
She says Hester wears the letter "for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart," revealing her intuitive grasp of the hidden connection between them.
What does Pearl do when she injures a seabird with a pebble?
She sighs and gives up her sport, because it grieves her to have harmed a creature as wild as herself or the sea-breeze.
What extended simile does Hawthorne use for Pearl's love toward her mother?
He compares it to an April breeze that sports, gusts with inexplicable passion, is petulant at its best, chills more often than it caresses, and occasionally kisses your cheek with doubtful tenderness.
What positive qualities does Hester see emerging in Pearl's character?
Unflinching courage, an uncontrollable will, sturdy pride that could become self-respect, and a bitter scorn of falsehood—along with deep affections that are still "acrid and disagreeable, as are the richest flavors of unripe fruit."
What is the "guardian spirit" that forsakes Hester after she lies?
The narrator suggests the scarlet letter itself served as a talisman of a stern but protective spirit that watched over her heart—and abandoned her the moment she was dishonest about its meaning.
What does Hester consider doing before she decides to lie to Pearl?
She considers confiding in Pearl, recognizing the child's precocity might make her a genuine friend who could be entrusted with her mother's sorrows.
How does Pearl's questioning persist after Hester's initial lie?
Pearl asks repeatedly during the walk home, at supper, while being put to bed, once after appearing asleep, and again first thing the next morning.
What does Pearl add to her questioning about the letter the next morning?
She asks why the minister keeps his hand over his heart, a question she has "unaccountably connected" with her investigation of the scarlet letter.
How does Hester finally silence Pearl's questions?
She threatens to shut her in a dark closet, speaking with "an asperity that she had never permitted to herself before."
What literary device is Hester's vision of Chillingworth blighting the earth an example of?
Pathetic fallacy—projecting his moral corruption onto the natural landscape so that the environment mirrors his inner evil.
What dramatic irony exists in Pearl's comment about the minister's hand?
Pearl unknowingly identifies the true connection between Hester's letter and Dimmesdale's guilt, a secret the adults refuse to acknowledge openly.
What does the narrator suggest Hester's hatred of Chillingworth reveals about her seven years of penance?
It throws a "dark light" on her state of mind, suggesting that years of suffering under the scarlet letter have not fully achieved repentance or resolved her moral turmoil.
What sea creatures does Pearl encounter during her play on the shore?
She seizes a live horseshoe crab by the tail, captures several starfish ("five-fingers"), and lays out a jellyfish to melt in the sun.
What costume does Pearl assemble from seaweed before making the green A?
She creates a mermaid outfit—a scarf or mantle and a head-dress—displaying her inherited gift for devising drapery and costume from her mother.
What role does Hawthorne suggest Providence may have designed for Pearl?
Beyond being an instrument of justice and retribution, Pearl might also serve a purpose of mercy—soothing the sorrow in her mother's heart and helping her overcome her imprisoned passions.