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PREREADING DISCUSSION TOPICS
• MINISTER'S VEIL - What is the effect of a black veil? On what occasions do you wear one?
What is the effect of a hidden face? When do people hide their faces?
• RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER - What are some things you have seen that are both beautiful and deadly?
Do parents always know what is best for their children? Explain.
RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT
• Research the communities of early American Puritan colonies. What role did Original Sin play in their lives? What kind of lives did they lead? Did they, like Hooper, also suffer from isolation?
• Hawthorne’s ancestors were involved in both the persecution of Quakers and the execution of people convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1690. Research either of these events. How did Puritans treat people who were different from them? What similarities are there between Mr. Hooper and others the Puritans disliked?
JOURNAL QUESTIONS
• Describe a time you had a friend who was a bad influence on you or who eventually proved to be hurtful?
• Describe a time you disliked or feared someone and later learned that this person had helped you?
• Free write in your journal about the difficulty of recognizing a person’s true nature.
• Describe a time a trusted friend of yours behaved strangely or did something out of the ordinary. What did they do? Why was this out of character for him/her? How did you react?
• Describe something/someone that you choose to avoid or stay away from. What is it about them that makes them unpleasant? Why do you avoid them?
• Describe a time you were deserted or left behind by someone you loved. How did you feel? What did you do? How did it affect you?
• Describe a time someone judged you by your appearance only. How did it feel to be judged by the way you looked? Describe a time you judged someone by their appearance. What judgment did you make? Do you believe you were correct? Explain.
• Describe a time you really wanted something you could not have. What was it? How did you feel? What did you do?
• Describe a time you spent time with someone your parents disapproved of. Why were their objections of that person? Were they right or wrong in their judgments?
ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Some themes in Hawthorne's stories include: alienation and loneliness, doubt and ambiguity, guilt and innocence, moral corruption and sin. Choose the theme you think best encompasses one of the stories. Discuss how each of the following literary techniques supports that theme:
figurative language,
foreshadowing, allusion,
dialogue,
description,
symbolism,
word choice,
dialect.
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