Name: _________________________           Date: __________ Class: _______

Symbolism Assignment

 

For this assignment, you will be working with your group to determine the symbolism Hawthorne uses. As you read the novel, you will make a note of significant/important passages by either writing it down or marking it with a post-it-note. Look for passages that develop or reveal symbolism. Look for passages that “stand out” in some way or strike you as important.

 

Once you have marked or written down the passages, you will bring them to class for working in your group. You will compare the symbols you came across and together, you will analyze, explain, and interpret the passage and symbolism used. I will be looking for depth of thought, clarity of expression, as well as careful analysis of the author’s writing as I grade your work.

 

They symbols you are looking for are as follows:

•           rosebush                                   •           scaffold

•           prison                                       •           letter “A”

•           prison door                               •           red

•           trees/forest                               •           gold

•           thresholds/doors                       •           night/day

•           water                                        •           vegetation

•           light dark                                  •           Pearl

•           reflections/mirrors                     •           triads (groups of three)

•           Black Man                               •           draperies and curtains

 

Group Directions:

 

1.                  Compare findings. Make sure you add to your list any ideas that your peers found in the novel.

2.                  Now it is time to write your analysis paragraph. Focus your writing on interpreting, explaining, and analyzing the passage, not on summarizing or re-stating it.  Consider the following questions; however, do not attempt to answer all of them in one analysis.

a.                   Does the passage reveal information about a character?  What?  How

b.                  Does the passage evoke a certain emotion?  How?  Which words?

c.                   Does the passage occur at a pivotal moment in the work? Why? 

d.                  Does the passage contain certain words that “stand out” or are important?  Which ones?

e.                   What does the passage symbolize

End of the Unit Individual Expectations 

At the end of the unit, you will type your findings and complete a literary analysis essay on three of the symbols that had a significant impact on the novel as a whole. This will be a three-page paper.

Due Date _________________.

It will count as a test grade and essay grade.