INTERACTIVE APPROACH TO "THE SCARLET LETTER" by Joe Mason ============================================ Hawthorne's THE SCARLET LETTER is a difficult book to teach secondary school students. The style is wordy, the time period foreign and the plot so slow to unfold that the chances are good by Chapter 4 you've lost most of the class. This approach to teaching THE SCARLET LETTER is intended to heighten student interest in the novel, lead to greater enjoyment of and interaction with the text and make the process of teaching what can be a difficult novel more palatable for the teacher. SET UP ------ Prepare students for the unit by exposing them to short fragments of Puritan literature (e.g., Anne Bradstreet's "On the Burning of Our House" [poem --see below for the poem and notes] or a rendition of fiery sermon-writer Jonathon Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"). Invite students to share their impressions of the works, and nominate qualities they believe exemplified Puritan society. HOMEWORK: Have students go home and find a fact concerning daily life in a Puritan colony and share that fact in a polished paragraph. The way I typically handle this piece of the unit is to have students uncover a fact of their own choosing. I urge them to go to the encyclopedia or the Internet and find "one interesting fact of life about daily living in Puritan colonies." I intentionally leave it vague--and students oblige by coming up with the most intriguing factoids! They might come up with information on topics such as: - daily routine - dress - diet - important historical events - background on the Puritan belief system - social order - political order - position of women - attitudes and superstitions - important Puritan personages THE UNIT -------- DAY ONE: Read Chapter 1 and the first few pages of Chapter 2 in class. Invite students to share the results of their research. Use this as a springboard to discuss what life must have been like in Puritan society. Generate a board list of adjectives which might describe life in a Puritan village. HOMEWORK: Have students write a one page rough draft of a diary entry from the point of view of a Puritan. Have them develop a name, age, occupation and brief history of this individual. DAY TWO: Complete Chapter 2 in class. While they read Chapter 3, correct and return their rough draft "diary" entries. HOMEWORK: Correct and finalize diary entries. DAY THREE (+): As students read the novel, use the "diary" paradigm as a mode to develop student interaction with the text. Some ideas for entries/HOMEWORK might include: ... have students recount a scene from the book as though witnessed first hand by their "Puritan" selves; share impressions, ideas and beliefs concerning events as a Puritan would have witnessed them ... have students justify (or argue against) a Puritan value or belief in their diaries ... have students write "letters" to one another in Puritan persona, in which they discuss Hester Prynne's situation ... have students pool their diary entries to create a Puritan "newspaper," recounting a week in the life of their Puritan "village" ... (for adventurous classes only) have students dress up as characters from their diary entries and the novel and place Hester Prynne on trial The creative possibilities of such an approach are endless. The up-side is that it keeps the students engaged and continuously writing as they reflect on the novel. The down-side is a fair amount of marking, but there are rewards there, too--some of the kids will unearth things about the novel or characters you might not have considered. Have students keep their diary entries, then share them with each other at the end of the year. *********************************** ON THE BURNING OF OUR HOUSE by Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) In silent night when rest I took For sorrow near I did not look, I wakened--'twas with thundering noise-- And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice. The fearful sound of fire and fire Let no man know is my Desire. I started up, the light did spy And to my God my heart did cry To strengthen me in my distress And not to leave me succorless. Then coming out beheld a space The flame consume my dwelling place, And when I could no longer look I blessed His Name who gave and took, That laid my goods now in the dust Yea so it was, and so 'twas just. It was his own it was not mine Far be it yet I should repine, He might of All justly bereft, But yet sufficient for us left. When by the Ruines oft I pass My sorrowing eyes aside did cast And here and there the places spy Where oft I sat and long did lie, Here stood that trunk, and there that chest There lay that store I counted best My pleasant things in ashes lie And them behold no more shall I. Under thy roof no guest shall sit, Nor at thy table eat a bit. No pleasant tale shall 'ere be told Nor things recounted done of old. No candle 'ere shall shine in thee Nor bridegroom's voice 'ere heard shall be. In silence ever shalt thou lie Adieu, adieu, all's vanity. Then straight I 'gin my heart to chide, And did thy wealth on Earth abide, Didst fix thy hope on mouldering dust, The arm of flesh didst make thy trust? Raise up thy thoughts above the sky That dunghill mists away may fly. Thou hast a house on high erect, Framed by that mighty Architect, With glory richly furnished Stands permanent though this be fled. It's purchased and paid for, too By Him who hath Enough to do. A prize so vast as is unknown Yet by his Gift is made thine own. There's wealth enough--I need no more, Farewell my pelf, farewell my store. The world no longer let me love My hope, my treasure, lies above. = A few remarks by Joe Mason 1. This is a reproduction of the poem from the version contained in THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ANNE BRADSTREET, Edited by J. McElrath, Jr. and Allan Robb, Twayne Publishers, Boston, 1981. 2. I've updated some of the "Puritan" language to make it more accessible to students. 3. The poem was not originally a "stand-alone" work, but was subsumed within another unpublished poem entitled "In Thankful Rememberance for My Dear Husband's Safe Arrival, Sept. 3, 1662." The publishers of the text I use ("Adventures in American Literature") stripped it out and published it under the "Burning" title. 4. Anne Bradstreet is one of America's first female writers. Her work is simple and accessible and this particular piece very illustrative of Puritan values and beliefs.