The Scarlet Letter Style Analysis Chapter 1

Student Samples Fall 2014

Excerpt:
A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed
with women, some wearing hoods, and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice,
the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.
The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might
originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a
portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. (Chapter 1, The
Prison Door)

Directions: Using your style analysis note:
1) Work with a partner to determine what elements are addressed and what elements are missing
from each of the student sample paragraphs.
2) Then, individually, please select three student samples to rewrite. Keep as much of the
original authors words and definitely their main ideas; correct and supplement as needed.

Please write on your own sheet of paper and indicate sample number.

1. In the excerpt from The Scarlet Letter, they live in the 19th century, while the puritan church
ran America. Many bearded men and women stood in front of a prison, some are hooded other's
not. They stand in front of a very heavy guarded door made of heavily timbered oak and
studded iron spikes. The emotions felt by the reader was dramatic, depressing, and gloomy
because of the way Hawthorne describes the people (prisoners) wearing sad- colored garments
and their gray steeple-crowned hats, they are dull and gloomy. Hawthorne also uses the
garments to strengthen his purpose and effects; he is also straight forward and detailed of these
things. The plot of this excerpt is that this world is not a utopian society, and it is filled with
oppressed people. These people were mostly women form the town the were gathered and
filled with rage because of officials. Hawthorne shows how all these women are angry with
officials because they were making a prison and cemetery on untouched land or "virgin soil"
for all of these oppressed people.

2. In this passage, Hawthorne creates a somber tone whilst providing the reader with an insight
into the mindset of the Puritans; with his use of irony, long sentences, and dismal words, he is
able to foretell the reasons for her ostracization. The picture provided is that of a group of men
and women anxiously and most certainly, hungrily, gathered around a prison door awaiting
Hester Prynnes sentence. In describing this scene, the reader becomes frightened of the so-
called utopian world, all the while feeling solemnity; Hawthornes use of adjectives such as
sad-colored, gray steeple-crowned, and heavily timbered all contribute to this leak and
melancholy tone. His excessive description of the wooden door, done so with the use of long
sentences and many commas, ultimately introduce and dramatize this utopian world, for her
contradicts this statement with his description of the Puritans dreary life.

3. In this excerpt from the beginning of the Scarlet Letter a crowd of townspeople are waiting
outside the prison for Hester Prynne, adulteress, and living proof of her sin, baby Pearl. The
author shows the Puritans unrealistic idea of Utopia in newly formed colony Massachusetts
filled with happy, god- fearing Puritans. The sad reality is in fact that the brand new colony is
filled made up of pessimistic, harsh and extreme, judgmental hypocrites.

4. Within the first two paragraphs, Hawthorne provides the reader with suspense as they are
dropped into the aftermath of Hester Prynne's actions of adultery. Using dark imagery,
Hawthorne creates a tone of irony as the Puritans who came seeking virtue and happiness have
now degenerated into a hostile colony. We are given a dark and gloomy environment of the
colony as Hawthorne describes the citizens wearing sad-colored or gray clothing and the prison
as "...heavily timbered...and studded with iron spikes" (Hawthorne 1) which contradicts the
Puritan's beliefs on building this "utopia".

5. In this excerpt, Hawthorne introduces the colonists as dark and depressed-- which parallels
their clothing--as they gather in front of the heavily timbered prison door that sprouts up
from the virgin soil of the new Puritan colony. With juxtapositions and defined word choice,
Hawthorne creates an ironic tone that undermines the Puritans intent of beginning a Utopia
in the New World, which reveals how drastically their mentally has altered to one of dismal
and defeatist. The symbolic colors--gray, brown, black-- within the text reflects the
atmosphere; as well as the environment itself, that has an influence on the overall mood of the
colony. Within two paragraphs, Hawthorne presents the new colony that has become a place
where space is saved for the dead and sinners, amongst the ruthless living.

6. In this excerpt, Hawthorne uses extensive detail, symbolism, and irony to clearly portray the
setting of this dismal Utopia. It begins with a description of a crowd of men and women in
sad-colored clothing gathered in front of a heavy, oak prison door with iron spikes. The
colors of the clothing and heaviness of the prison door reflect the tone in this Puritan colony.
Hawthorne further elaborates the founding of this virtuous and hopeful colony that has
ironically set up a prison and a cemetery as soon as possible, as if the dream of happiness
there was never fully believed. These opening sentences paint a rich background for the reader
before any events even take place.

7. In this passage, citizens of a Puritan town wait for Hester Prynne to be released from jail. In
sentence one the author describes the citizens using "sad-colored" clothes. Hawthorne uses this
sentence to describe how ironic the Puritan people of this colony are. Hawthorne creates a
sense of sadness to help describe the hypocrisy of the newly founded colony, through the use of
commas and diction.

8. In this passage, Hawthorne describes a group of somber people standing outside of a prison
door, which he uses as a symbol of the severity of condemnation of sinners; a contradiction to
both the Puritan beliefs, and the prospect of a utopia. Hawthorne draws the image of a
corrupted utopia: men in sad colored garments... assembled in front of a [prison] door, which
was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes. Hawthorne mentions that this
colony was founded in the hopes of it becoming a utopia. However, the prison and cemetery
were the first to be built, which corrupted the prospect of the utopia, as these buildings are
home to the evil and the dead. In the Puritan code, one of the resolutions reads, never to suffer
the least motions of anger to irrational beings, which goes against constructing a prison- the
symbol of anger towards irrational beings.