1.
This
week we will continue our reading of
2. Vocabulary:
1. Lugubrious:
Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an
exaggerated or ludicrous degree.
2. Metamorphosis: A marked change in
appearance, character, condition, or function; a transformation. In biology, a change in the form of an animal
during normal development after the embryonic stage.
3. Mitosis:
The process in cell division by which the nucleus
divides, typically consisting of four stages.
4. Moiety:
A half; a part, portion, or share: “Tom
divided the cake and Becky ate with good appetite, while Tom nibbled at his
moiety” (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).
5. Nanotechnology: The science and
technology of building devices, such as electronic circuits, from individual
atoms and molecules.
6. Nihilism:
In philosophy, an extreme form of skepticism that
denies that existence is real; the belief that all values are baseless and that
nothing can be known or communicated. In
19th century
7. Nomenclature:
A system of names used in art or science; the
procedure of assigning names to organisms listed in a taxonomic classification.
8. Notarize:
To certify or attest to the validity of a signature
on a document as a notary public.
9. Obsequious:
Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.
10. Oligarchy:
Government by a few, especially by a small faction
of persons or families.
“For they that are discontented under monarchy call it tyranny; and they
that are displeased with aristocracy call it oligarchy: so also, they which find themselves grieved
under a democracy call it anarchy” (Thomas Hobbes, Leviathon).
3. Writing:
Answer each of the following questions in a
well-developed paragraph of five to twelve sentences. Use details from the book to
compose your answers. Be sure that each
paragraph begins with a clear, direct, active topic sentence. These are due on Wednesday, October 24.
1.
What
do the women of the town think of Hester Prynne, and how do they treat her?
2.
Describe
Hester’s physical appearance and some of her character traits.
3.
Describe
the Reverend Dimmesdale; what do the people think of him?
4.
Comment
on the significance of the names:
Dimmesdale, Chillingsworth,
5.
Discuss
Hester’s needlework: Why does she do it; what do others think of it; how is it
connected to her scarlet letter?
6.
Describe
7.
Describe
Roger Chillingsworth and his special skills; explain how he and Dimmesdale
became friends.
4. Finger
Exercises:
Rewrite
each of the following sentences using active verbs in the active voice:
1. The
colony was founded by Puritans, hopeful that their life in the wilderness would
be shaped by
2. “Some
sweet moral blossom” is symbolized by the rose-bush that grows in the shadow of
the prison-door.
3. The
narrator of the story seems to be unable to write because he is haunted by his
daunting ancestor.
4. Hestor
appears to be unrepentant as she is viewed by the community.
5. Her
attention is arrested by a strange, mis-shapen man who is seen at the edge of
the crowd.
6. Hestor’s
rebellion is reflected in her little daughter’s wild behavior, and the mother
is appalled.
7. Hestor
is instructed by Chillingsworth, her husband, to remain silent about his
identity.
8. At the
governor’s palace, Pearl is disappointed to find that the roses and other
plants have been destroyed by drought and neglect.