Estimated Time: 30 minutes

In the last paragraph of Chapter 1 Hawthorne writes,

"This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadow it, -or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door, - we shall not take upon us to determine."

Who was Ann Hutchinson?

Why would some believe that the rose-bush sprung up under the footsteps of Ann Hutchinson?

What similarities do you see between Ann Hutchinson and Hester Prynne?

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