The Scarlet Letter

Chapter 1-2



In this first two chapters, people are discussing a woman who has been put in jail. The woman was put in jail for committing adultery and is forced to wear the scarlet letter, "A" across her chest. The woman's name,we discover, is Hester Prynne and she has a newly born baby. For her punishment for committing adultery, she is forced to stand on a platform while everyone in the town is giving the opportunity to gawk at her.



Chapter 3-4



In the proceeding chapters, Hester, while on the platform, recognizes someone in the crowd. The person she recognizes is announced to be named "Roger Chillingworth." He visits her in prison one day. It turns out that that he is Hester's real husband that sent her ahead of him a few years ago. He had planned to move there with her later, but his ship sank and he was abducted by Native Americans. He told Hester, however that he was not upset with her and that he had wronged her too by marrying her so young. So in that sense, they were even. He also made her swear not to reveal who he was and she did.

Chapter 5-6

In the next two chapters, the book goes into great detail describing Hester and Pearl. Hester is a very skilled seamstress who sews garments for almost everyone in town. The only garment she doesn't sew are wedding gowns because nobody wants an adulterer to sew their wedding gown. These chapters also go into detail describing Hester's daughter Pearl. Hester perceives her as a elfish little child with a sinister smile and laugh. She feels that perhaps that since Pearl was created through breaking a law, that she is made of sheer evil. She also spoils Pearl and lets her do as she pleases. This is probably why Pearl acts the way she does.

Chapter 7-8

In these chapters, Hester has to deliver gloves to the governor. The other reason she is visiting the governor's house is because there is talk that Pearl may be taken away from Hester,and Hester wants to try to convince the governor otherwise. The Reverend, Mr. Wilson decides to give Pearl a test to see if she can answer some simple religious questions. Pearl fails this test completely by saying that she had not been created by a Heavenly Father, but instead was plucked off a rose bush by her mother. This makes Wilson and the others want to take Pearl away even more now, but then Reverend Dimmesdale comes to her rescue. He tells the others that Hester can teach her daughter through her own experiences and that Pearl is in good care. The Governor in the end decides to let Hester keep her daughter as long as she promises to send her to learn about religion.

Chapter 9-10

Chapters nine and ten display the relationship that Roger Chillingworth has formed with Reverend Dimmesdale. They are always together and since Dimmesdale has been in bad health lately, Chillinworth tries to convince him to take some medicine. He had a presumption that Dimmesdale was the father and so he spent all the time he could, getting to know Dimmesdale. He wanted to build up Dimmesdale's trust so that he could slowly torture him every single day. One day while Dimmesdale is sleeping, Roger lifts up his shirt and sees something there (possibly a scarlet letter) on Dimmesdale's chest. This is the final proof Chillingworth had been so desperately searching for.

Chapter 11-12

In these chapters, the story reveals that Dimmesdale has been physically abusing himself in order to compensate for his sins. Then, Dimmesdale has an epiphany. He travels to the scaffold on which Hester once stood. He emits a shrill screech in order and figures that the neighborhood should awake at any moment. They, however, do not. Instead he sees Hester and Pearl a headed towards him. They join him on the scaffold and all join hands. Pearl then asks Dimmesdale if he will stand on the scaffold and hold hands again at noon. He says that he will on judgement day. Then, they see a comet in the sky that Dimmesdale believes is a giant letter "A" like the one Hester wears on her chest. Then Chillingworth appears and leads Dimmesdale homeward.

Chapter 13-14

At first, the chapter reveals that because Hester is always doing good for others, people have started to change the meaning of her scarlet letter. They now interpret the letter as to stand for "Able." Hester realizes that the scarlet letter hasn't fully done its office. Hester decides that she does not regret what she has done. In the woods, she stumbles across Chillingworth. She sent Pearl down to the beach while her and Chillingworth talked. She sees how different Chillingworth has become, he has a look of sinister malevolence. Hester knows about how Chillingworth has been cunningly torturing Dimmesdale. She tells him that she can no longer keep her promise to him and that she must reveal to Dimmesdale Chillingworth's true identity. Hester believes that she is being sinful for keeping her promise to Chillingworth, so she refuses to keep it any longer.

Chapter 15

After Hester left from speaking with Chillingworth, she went to get Pearl from the beach. She discovers that Pearl has put a capital letter "A" across her chest. Pearl believes that everyone who is an adult has a letter "A" on their chest eventually, but her mother tells her otherwise. This even more so sparks Pearl's curiosity and she asks her mother why she wears the scarlet letter. Her mother does not believe that Pearl is old enough to understand, so she refuses to answer and instead dances around the subject of the letter. Hester tells Pearl not to ask about it anymore.

Ellery's Summaries****

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place




In the story A Clean, Well-Lighted Place Hemingway uses setting to develop a mood and theme. The story takes place in a cafe at around two a.m. There is a drunken old man at the cafe who is deaf and tried to commit suicide the week before. The story uses the contrast of light and dark to symbolize the young and happy and the old and depressed. The story displays the old man's loneliness and despair as he tries to find comfort in alcohol and company in the waiters. An existentialistic theme is portrayed throughout the story. The older waiter sees himself becoming more and more like the hopeless old man. Even though there is little written in the text of this story, the message is very strong.

A Day's Wait

A Day's Wait is a story of courage and death. In the story, a young boy is sick and a doctor comes to see what is wrong with him. The boy's temperature is one hundred and two. His father tries to comfort him by reading the story, but he can tell that the boy is slightly detached and isn't really listening. The boy's father decides to leave the boy be for a while and go quail hunting. When he returns he discovers that the boy will not let anyone come in his room. The boy's father talks to the boy and the boy tells his father that he is waiting to die. The boy gets the Celsius temperature scale mixed up with the Farenheight scale and thinks that his fever is to high to live. This story demonstrates the courage the boy shows by being completely calm when he thinks that day is his last.

Hills Like White Elephants

This story uses symbolism extentsively. Throughout the story, the girl and the man are discussing a subject very intently. The story never says what the subject is exactly, however, through context clues the reader can discover what it is. The subject that is being discussed is the woman having an abortion. The man wants her to get one and is trying to persuade her to do so. She, however feels as though nothing will ever be the same in her life if she does. She feels as though that, by getting an abortion she sort of trades in her own soul. In the end, the man asks if their is something wrong with the girl and the girl says that their is nothing wrong with him. This implies that she thinks something is wrong with him for wanting her to have an abortion. As a person can see, this story uses tone and mood to give the story a unique texture.

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

This short story is a story of pride and vanity. In the beginning, Francis Macomber goes lion hunting with a professional hunter named Wilson. When the lion actually comes around though, Macomber becomes scared and abruptly flees. His wife is there and sees the whole thing, which of course embarrasses him. Then later in the night, his wife goes and has an affair with Mr. Wilson. She denies having done this by saying she was just out for some fresh air. This greatly angers Macomber and empowers him to be a better hunter. The next day at breakfast, Macomber is of course bitter with Wilson and they decide to go hunt wild buffalo. Macomber was really in the zone and is doing an excellent job at hunting these buffalo. He says that a new feeling has come over him and he feels completely different. This is because of his new found confidence. His wife knows now that he now has the confidence he needs to leave her. She can't handle the thought of being left, so she "accidently" shoots him while she is supposedly trying to kill the buffalo. Wilson knows that this was intentional and tells her basicall that if she does what he tells her, he can make it all seem like an accident. This causes her to have to submit to him automatically. This story shows how jealousy and fear can get the best of people.