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Home Summer Reading Assignment Students

Given the nature of the 2011 summer reading program, you had significant autonomy in selecting the books you would read. While you were responsible for completing a proposal, you were not given other assignments to complete over the summer. As indicated on your proposal form, you are required to write a letter to your 2011-12 Language Arts teacher that demonstrates your thoughtful reading of your book. We have chosen to break this down further into three focused "Power Paragraphs" for two reasons, one, to introduce you to the idea of a power paragraph, and two, to assist you in covering all aspects of the assignment.

__ Prompt for Paragraph One - A Reflection of Your Choice __ __The Scarlet Letter __, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was everything I hoped for and more. __The Scarlet Letter__ provided a fascinating view of Baptist culture and how it is not so different from our culture-maybe just a little more extreme. The main character, Hester Prynne, has an affair with a highly valued minister and has an illegitimate child with him, she is shunned from the society and treated as an outcast. An affair is obviously seen by most people as an immoral action, however, in a Baptist community, this action is highly severe, especially if one of the guilty was a member of the clergy. This was mostly the reason I decided to read the book- besides that I got it for 50 cents at the library; I mentioned in my proposal that “__The Scarlet Letter__ is intriguing by it being scandalous”. I couldn’t wait to see how a Baptist community would take adultery and to compare their reaction with what I assumed would be ours. Half of us would say that the affair was okay, in that case, because Hester loved Reverend Dimmesdale, and the other half would say, “My gosh! She is married! How awful!” Of course, the Baptists agree with the latter, and Hester and her daughter quickly become the rejects of the society. Fascinating, no?
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Wednesday, 8/24 **

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Dover Publications, 1994. Print. I am so glad that you chose this important piece of literature. Please review the power paragraph format, this will help you cut unnecessary summary and focus on your most important ideas.

__ Prompt for Paragraph Two - A Discussion of What You Gained by Reading Your Book __ __The Scarlet Letter__, I was constantly reminded of how Hester Prynne’s actions would be received in society today. I thought people would be just as upset, however, more with Reverend Dimmesdale, Hester‘s lover. In the book, no one even seems too bothered by his actions ; the book even states that, according to “highly respectable witnesses“ (Hawthorne 284), Dimmesdale “after exhausting life in his efforts for mankind’s spiritual good…had made the manner of his death a parable” thus, “impressing…the mournful lesson that…we are all sinners.” (Hawthorne 285) I believe that, nowadays, people are more likely to see the Reverend as the sinner rather than Hester, considering Hester believed her husband dead and Dimmesdale was a clergyman. I am not entirely clear about what you learned or took from the book. This is more of a response to the book, not a personal connection.
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Thursday, 8/25 **

__ Prompt for Paragraph Three - What to do With it... __ __The Scarlet Letter__ would appeal to many types of people; mostly anyone with a fascination for classic literature, sociology, history, or all of the above. Every time I open its pages, I find something new; I stumble across a message I hadn’t noticed the first time. Like Italo Calvino wrote, “a classic is a book that has never finished what it has to say.” (The Literature Machine) __The Scarlet Letter__’s scandal is a great controversy, depending how you view it. Is Hester and Dimmesdale’s actions a sin or an act of love? Would the Baptist society really react the way they did? Should society, in general, follow strict rules or should we be allowed to discern right and wrong ourselves? (and avoid judging others) Any person who has a love for classical literature or a book that holds many facets of knowledge and answers would love __The Scarlet Letter__.
 * *Must be posted to the WIKI by midnight on Sunday, 8/28 **

You have wonderful ideas and a great start here. With practice, you will be able to showcase your fantastic ideas in a way that jumps out and grabs your reader!


 * Scoring: Your three paragraphs will be given one overall grade, and the timeliness of your posts will be reflected in your "timeliness" grade. **

// An outstanding response to the prompts will include the following: //
 * A strong topic sentence that clearly establishes the focus on the prompt
 * Evidence that clearly supports the topic sentence
 * Correct use of internal citations and a properly formatted MLA citation for your book (put this citation at the end of paragraph one)
 * Strict adherence to the Power Paragraph format
 * Mechanics are clean and do not detract from meaning