Essay Questions

What is notable about the means by which Mr. Scratch claims American citizenship?

Mr. Scratch says he was here the first time settlers wronged the Indians. He was here when the very first slave trafficking ship set sail for Africa. Less directly, he also references the Salem Witch Trials and the Civil War. Mr. Scratch is suggesting—not outright and explicitly stating—but subtly suggesting that American was founded upon acts and behavior which any decent Christian “in every church in New England” would identify as sin and attribute to the devil.

What is the significance of the reference to Benedict Arnold?

The jury has been literally stacked against Jabez. Mr. Scratch has chosen some of the most notorious men in the history of the colonies. Ruthless and bloodthirsty and with many of them likely looking to gain a little revenge on someone else to pay for the punishment they received. And yet, the single most notorious figure in American history even still to this day is Benedict Arnold. Only in American is “being a Benedict Arnold” synonymous with being called a “a Judas.” Both are accusations of disloyalty to the point of being traitor. Not just a traitor, but both betrayed for the lowest and most vulgar of reasons: money. According to the story’s internal logic, Benedict Arnold should not just have been on the jury; he should have been the foreman because, symbolically, he is American’s Satan. Mr. Scratch’s glowering stare as he informs Webster that Arnold is otherwise engaged suggests that he reserves the use of Benedict Arnold for the collection of much more important souls than someone like Jabez Stone.

What makes Justice Hathorne just a strange choice to preside over the trial?

For that matter, Benedict Arnold could well have been chosen to be the judge and it would make more sense from a literary perspective since Arnold would obviously be more familiar to most readers in the 1830’s than Hathorne. Hathorne, however, is a brilliant choice by the author because of the inherent irony. Hathorne is linked to the men in the jury as a result of being one of the most infamously cruel and judges of all time who seemed to lack a capacity for mercy. This, obviously, would make him a perfect judge to rule on the side of the devil. On the other hand, Hathorne was also a judge at the Salem Witch Trials where his interrogations of suspected witches were harsh and his belief in their guilt obvious. So from that perspective, he would seem to be the one of the last people the devil would want as the judge.