Read this excerpt from chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter using comprehension strategies. But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him. What is the meaning of this excerpt?
Answer
A
The rosebush is more beautiful and fragile than anything else near the prison.
B
The rosebush is nature’s offering to those who must enter or leave the prison.
C
Puritans plant a rosebush near the prison to comfort criminals.
D
Puritans believe that criminals deserve a view of beauty from their cells.
Explanation
The passage describes the rosebush as offering its fragrance and beauty to both the prisoner entering the prison and the condemned person leaving it. The narrator suggests it represents Nature’s pity and kindness toward them. So the rosebush is nature’s offering to those who enter or leave the prison, not something the Puritans planted for criminals.
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