Scarlet Letter ch 1-2 discussion

utopia

1. 1 :  an imaginary and indefinitely remote place
2. 2 often capitalized :  a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions
3. 3 :  an impractical scheme for social improvement

scapegoat

1. 1 :  a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur
2. 2a :  one that bears the blame for othersb :  one that is the object of irrational hostility

Today's Goals: 

Establish good habits for small group discussion.

Ask and attempt to answer questions about the exposition chapters of The Scarlet Letter.

What does a bad small group discussion look like?
What does a good small group discussion look like?

1. Find direct quotes which allude to some of the problems that any utopias might face.  What do these details suggest about the human condition, about human nature?

2. What are some of the key details which convey the social setting of the town?  How does Hawthorne use characters to convey attitudes?

3. How is the setting - time, place, culture/religion, specific details about even the prison - essential to "setting" up the story?

4. What do we learn about Hester Prynne is this opening scene? What is told to us? What might we infer?

5. Good readers listen to the moments where something in the text suggest a possible figurative, metaphoric, symbolic interpretation is warranted.  What were some of the details which Hawthorne (and his narrator) may have included for their literal as well figurative meanings? What tips you off? Where is done overtly, obvioulsy? Where is it not more subtle?

6. Who is Anne Hutchinson?  She is alluded to and described as "saintly"?  What potentially does this allusion add to our understanding of the opening chapter? Of our narrator? Of Hester Prynne?

7. Which words had you looking for your phone or a dictionary?  List all of them, provided a portion of the sentence, their page number, and a brief definition appropriate to the context of the sentence. 

8. What is the relationship between Hawthorne's narrator and the characters and place he writes about?  What details suggest or convey this?

9. Hawthorne wrote this book nearly 200 years after the time of its setting in Puritan New England.  Hawthorne was not a Puritan, but his ancestors were. What early impresssions do you have of how he felt about the Puritans? What do you base them on?

10. The human desire to create utopias and scapegoats is strong.  Discuss each.  What needs might  each fill in the human psyche?

Homework

Fill in the "gaps" from the discussion guide. Prepare for whole group discussion of chapters 1 & 2 tomorrow.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8/21 First Day of School Intro to Class Review Syllabus	8/22 All Classes in DC Introductory Letter and Beginning of Year Self Assessment	8/23 Late Start Day Poem Inferential and Broader Connection Questions	8/24 Summer Reading Day Bring Scarlet Letter (SL) tomorrow	8/25 Intro to SL PPT Puritans Shaming and Sexism in 2017 America? Scarlett Letter (SL) Graffiti
8/28 SL Reading Day Turnitin disc quests	8/29 SL Ch I-II disc (33-41) Read cha III & IV and write discussion questions. Post discussion questions.	8/30 God in America Romanticism Discuss Ch I-II Read ch V-VI for Friday	8/31 Jr. Group Guidance Attendance then to 140	9/1 SL Ch V-VI (53-68) discussion Disc Self -Assess HW: SL reading and questions for 9/5
9/4 LABOR DAY	9/5 SL VII-VIII (68-80) discussion of inferential and broader connection questions	9/6 Late Start Day Reading Day Post disc quests	9/7 S.C. OPEN HOUSE SL IX & X Disc (80-95)	9/8 Junior Subject Team Type II (administer)
9/11 SL Reading Day Romanticism PPT?	9/12 SL XI-XIV (95-120) Disc Romanticism PPT?	9/13 SL Reading Day Post disc quests	9/14 N.C. OPEN HOUSE SL XV-XVIII (120-141) disc	9/15 TBD
9/18 SL Reading Day Post disc questions	9/19 SL XIX-XX (155-180) discussion	9/20 Late Start Day SL Reading Day	9/21 Discuss SL XXI-XXIV	9/22 SL End of Book Quiz
9/25 SL Paper	9/26 SL Paper	9/27 School Improvement Day 11:30 Dismissal SL Paper	9/28 SL Paper	9/29 SL Paper Due
10/2 Intro to AP Rhetoric	10/3 Intro to AP Rhetoric	10/4 Late Start Day Intro to AP Rhetoric	10/5 Intro to AP Rhetoric	10/6 Intro to AP Rhetoric
10/9 COLUMBUS DAY	10/10 DISTRICT INSTITUTE DAY	10/11 Transcendentalism	10/12 Transcendentalism	10/13 Transcendetnalism
10/16 Transcendentalism	10/17 Transcendentalism	10/18 Late Start Day Transcendentalism	10/19 Transcendentalism	10/20 END OF 1ST QUARTER Transcendentalism