English Paper
English unit 4
17. Write answers in paragraphs in response to two of the following questions. Each answer should be approximately 200 words. Support your answer with specific references to Still Stands the House. Organize your ideas to express them clearly and coherently.
a) The house is a dominant symbol that looms over Still Stands the House as if it were a character itself.
What does the house symbolize? Support your answer with two references to the play.
b) This play has several strong themes. Identify one of them. How does the symbol of the house contribute to the theme? Support your answer with two references to the play.
c) Identify one character trait of Hester or Ruth. How has the playwright used dialogue effectively to reveal this character trait? Support your answers with two references to the play.
a) The house symbolizes different things for each character. For Ruth, it symbolizes a sense of isolation, and otherworldliness, with how everything is so cut off from town, and everyone else that she knew. For Hester, the house represents a place where she had once been happy, and where her life had a meaning and was set. She knew what her life would be like in that house, and it allowed her to be close to her father who had died years before. For Bruce, it symbolizes failure, but also some sort of desperation of trying to salvage something lost. Hester was much attached to the place even though Ruth was hoping to sell, “The House means so much to her. But maybe she won’t mind” Ruth was telling Arthur Manning when he came by to buy the place from Bruce. Hester was angry when Ruth tried to change anything in the house, “There’s nothing in this house that isn’t good, that wasn’t bought with care and pride by one of us who loved it. This stuff is cheap and gaudy” Ruth hated being so far away from town, and Hester never wanted to leave or see anyone else. She had a choice to leave and she never did. To her, the house was where she was meant to be, it was
17. Write answers in paragraphs in response to two of the following questions. Each answer should be approximately 200 words. Support your answer with specific references to Still Stands the House. Organize your ideas to express them clearly and coherently.
a) The house is a dominant symbol that looms over Still Stands the House as if it were a character itself.
What does the house symbolize? Support your answer with two references to the play.
b) This play has several strong themes. Identify one of them. How does the symbol of the house contribute to the theme? Support your answer with two references to the play.
c) Identify one character trait of Hester or Ruth. How has the playwright used dialogue effectively to reveal this character trait? Support your answers with two references to the play.
a) The house symbolizes different things for each character. For Ruth, it symbolizes a sense of isolation, and otherworldliness, with how everything is so cut off from town, and everyone else that she knew. For Hester, the house represents a place where she had once been happy, and where her life had a meaning and was set. She knew what her life would be like in that house, and it allowed her to be close to her father who had died years before. For Bruce, it symbolizes failure, but also some sort of desperation of trying to salvage something lost. Hester was much attached to the place even though Ruth was hoping to sell, “The House means so much to her. But maybe she won’t mind” Ruth was telling Arthur Manning when he came by to buy the place from Bruce. Hester was angry when Ruth tried to change anything in the house, “There’s nothing in this house that isn’t good, that wasn’t bought with care and pride by one of us who loved it. This stuff is cheap and gaudy” Ruth hated being so far away from town, and Hester never wanted to leave or see anyone else. She had a choice to leave and she never did. To her, the house was where she was meant to be, it was