The Night Of The Hunter Analysis

When children endure high-level stress situations that mix with a lack of loving, supportive relationships, children endanger their brain's and can achieve permanent brain damage . In Davis Grubb's gothic novel, The Night of the Hunter, a blameless child named Pearl experiences traumatic situations and lacks a supportive relationship. The Preacher’s perfect storm causes Pearl to back-track and makes her figuratively experience short-term memory loss. Thourgh the character of Pearl, Grubb suggests that in order for our minds to function properly, we must have at least one relationship which is supportive and loving. The four year old Pearl, orphaned by "Sin and Green" (Grubb 22), becomes forcefully adopted by the Preacher. Once Pearl loses all loving parental support, she falls into the Preacher's trap. The Preacher seems to be a perfect mix of an evilness and insanity, who finds ways to creep into people’s lives only to then show his true colors once people around him realize his intentions. Except, some people do not realize his intentions until it becomes too late. Sweet, innocent Pearl is one of those who never realizes his intent.
As the Preacher calls poor Pearl a, “poor, silly, disgusting little wretch” (165), she still does not see that he has no true love for her.
All Pearl wants in her cruel world is to be loved by someone, and her blindness to the Preacher’s evilness causes her to keep falling back into his trap. Even when the Preacher threatens to,"tear...[her] arm off," (140) and grabs her physically, Pearl forgets this and she’s willing to fall back in his arms later. These traumatic experiences, such as when the Preacher flips to his evil side and Pearl doesn’t recognize it because she mistakes his duplicitousness for love, are very disturbing to
Pearl. When the Preacher shows back up to pick up his "little lambs", Pearl simply forgets all the name calling and threatening, and gives a, "wail of happiness," and "race[s] to the Preacher's feet," (217). How could Pearl simply fall back in love with him and forget all the harm and stress he caused her? How could she not follow her brothers path and hate him? Love. Pearl only had John on the run, and he couldn't provide the affection and support that a four-year old girl needs. "Pearl...was so hungry for love that she would have turned and taken suck from an old ewe" (198). The lack of love provided to Pearl caused her to take love from anyone. That is why she was so willing to fall into Preacher’s arms and want to be apart of a family again.
Pearl’s life revolves on finding a source of love and affection once her parent’s die. Although John cares for her deeply, he cannot provide the love and warmth of a mother. Pearl falls into the trap of the Preacher, not because of her innocence, but because of her need for warmth and attachment, so she trusts the Preacher and follows him.