By staying and facing cruel taunts and alienation, Hester insists, paradoxically, upon her right to self-determination. Hester does not need to flee or to live a life of lies in order to resist the judgment against her.
Each time she interacts with Pearl, Hester is forced to reconsider the life she has chosen for herself. Pearl reminds Hester of her transgression, of the act that has left Hester in her current state of alienation.
It is fitting that Pearl is fascinated by the scarlet letter, as the child and the emblem are read similarly by society. Like Pearl, the letter inspires a mixture of contempt and strange enchantment.
Both also invite contemplation: people—even the narrator, some two hundred years later—feel compelled to tell the story behind the two relics. The children of the townspeople are as cruel as their parents in their treatment of Hester and Pearl.
The Puritans-in-training make believe they are scalping Native Americans, they mimic the gestures of going to church, and they pretend to engage in witchcraft. They mirror the true preoccupations of their parents, just as Pearl reflects the complex state of her exiled mother.
As we will see later, the forest itself represents even greater freedom. Pearl seems to be a kind of changeling—a surreal, elfin creature who challenges reality and thrives on fantasy and strangeness. This world of near-magic is, of course, utterly un-Puritan. At times it seems almost un-human.
By indulging in dream, imagination, beauty, and passion, one accesses a world that is more magically transcendent.
Ace your assignments with our guide to The Scarlet Letter! Related questions. What do the townspeople say Hester's A now stands for? What did the towns people say about pearl? What rumor are townspeople spreading about pearl in The Scarlet Letter? How sincerely concerned are the townspeople of Salem for the souls of Hester and Pearl? When the townspeople learn of Kino's pearl what does he become in their eyes? Is it correct to say townspeople or townpeople?
How do you say pearl in tahitian? Where did the townspeople and the nomads interact? Is towns people a proper noun? Why did townspeople want charters? What does mars say after she beats berry on Pokemon Pearl? What reason does Hester give for her need to keep Pearl? What did Dimmesdale tell the people of New England before he died? How do you say pearl-hunting in Arabic?
Why do the townspeople follow Kino in the first chapter of the pearl? How do you say pearl in Spanish? How do you say pearl in Japanese? How do you say how on Pokemon Pearl?
Whose lives in Arab was easier nomads or townspeople? What language is Pearl Harbor in? How do you say pearl white in french? How do you say and pronounce pearl in Hindi? The question was not entirely meaningless, but half in earnest at that moment. Pearl was so intelligent that her mother half-suspected she must be a magical spirit who was about to reveal herself. Thou art no Pearl of mine! You are no Pearl of mine! But she said it with a hesitation that did not escape the acuteness of the child.
Whether moved only by her ordinary freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her, she put up her small forefinger, and touched the scarlet letter. But she said it with a hesitation that the perceptive child noticed. Whether because of her own contrariness, or because an evil spirit prompted her, Pearl raised her small forefinger and touched the scarlet letter. Thou must not talk so! He sent even me, thy mother.
Then, much more, thee! Or, if not, thou strange and elfish child, whence didst thou come? You must not talk like that! He even sent me, your mother—so of course he sent you! Tell me!
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