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Pearl’s Force Of Nature

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Pearl’s Force Of Nature
Pearl's Force of Nature The force of nature is powerful and cannot be escaped or denied. It is everywhere, and it is often used to symbolize many different ideas, such as birth, freedom, and change. The idea of nature as an important symbol is prominent in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In the novel, Hester Prynne is marred with the red letter A, for adulteress, on her breast for all of her life. A result of her sin, was the birth of her daughter, Pearl. Pearl is often thought to be a demonic and evil child, but in reality she is extremely observant, sweet and perceptive. Pearl shows her feelings and personality through elements of the natural world. Pearl is shown as a force of nature because she connects to her mother through it, she is the product of a wild and passionate union and she is happiest outside the bounds of the city. .

The first way Pearl is seen in nature is through her connection to her mother. Pearl has a rather odd, but very noticeable way of connecting to her mother. She uses nature to show her query and also her understanding of her mother's sin and its consequences. There are numerous examples of these connections between Pearl and Hester. Pearl began this connection through nature when she was very young. "In an afternoon of a certain summer's day, after Pearl grew big enough to run about, she amused herself with gathering handfuls of wild-flowers, and flinging them, one by one, at her mother's bosom; dancing up and down" (67). Even at a young age, Pearl knew that she was somehow involved with the scarlet A on her mother's dress, and she made this connection through the natural world. Another example is when Pearl, "taking a handful of these [prickly burrs]...arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter that decorated the maternal bosom, to which the line of burrs, as their nature was, tenaciously adhered. Hester did not pluck them off" (92). This action that Pearl made is very symbolic in many ways. One such way is Pearl's

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