Homework: Symbol Symposium

OPEN THE TEXT!
Click here to open the full text of The Scarlet Letter at the Gutenberg Project, or navigate to http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext92/scrlt13.txt. (If for any reason that link doesn't work, go to http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33 and click on the download link next to "Plain text" under the section "Download this ebook for free.")

DIRECTIONS! (Same as you got in class.)
In addition to completing the reading and dialectic journals assigned (through Ch. 19), please investigate a couple of symbols over the weekend for our Symbol Symposium on Monday. First, just think about the potential symbols. Where do you recall seeing them in the novel? Independent of the novel, what associations do you have with these objects?

Then go online and search the full text of the novel for instances of these concepts (try searching for related words as well; I’ve listed a few and you can probably think of more). Use Control-F or the “find” function to locate them, and record the context in your notes (you won’t have page numbers, but jot down the scene or chapter). Finally, note your thoughts on what these symbols might mean in the context of the novel.

Please keep these notes in your journal. You need not write in complete sentences.

Investigate the highlighted symbol below as well as one more of your choice (two total).

Note: If you were absent from class on Friday, choose any two bullets to work with.

• Scaffolds (scaffolding, support, steps)
• Colors (red/scarlet/blood/crimson, gold)
• Darkness versus light (sun versus shadow, night versus day, noon, moon)
• Night versus day (sun, moon, midnight)
• Vegetation (tree, plant, bush, weed)
• Roses and rosebushes (flower, thorn)
• Precious stones or gems (pearl, ruby, gold, diamond)
• The letter “A”
• Forest versus town
• Doors or thresholds (gate, fence, periphery ... look up the word “liminal”)
• Water (stream, sea, river)
• Windows, mirrors, and reflections
• Triads (things that come in groups of three)
• Chains (chain, link, bond, fetter)