ce when Dimmesdale requests that the child remain with her mother. Without hearing a single word uttered, Pearl can easily see how Dimmesdale saves both her and her mother from a situation neither would enjoy. Thus, the loving gesture Pearl makes towards Dimmesdale is her silent way of saying "Thank you for the gift of youth you have just given me."Pearls characteristics of curiosity and sensitivity can readily allow a reader to make assumptions about whether Pearl understands what the scarlet letter symbolizes. While she is too young to comprehend Puritanical sin and punishment, Pearl can easily understand that the letter is the source of her mothers chastisement and embarrassment. "And, mother, he has his hand over his heart! Is it because, when the minister wrote his name in the book, the Black Man set his mark in that place? But why does he not wear it outside his bosom, as thou dost , mother?" (Hawthorne 172) Pearls questions lead a reader to realize that she does see a link between Hesters letter and Dimmesdales habit of covering his heart with his hand, although she does not know what this connection is.Pearl is an amazing child and perhaps one of the only many sided characters in the novel. Although some readers of this novel may not care to read between the lines and see beyond the labeling of demon, the true Pearl is completely different from this stereotype. The real Pearl, the inquisitive, intelligent, and beautiful creature she is, becomes the symbol for salvation in this novel. Pearl may be the product of sin and "filthiness", yet she possesses traits that make her an amazing child. Indeed, Pearl is the rosebush which grows near the prison door: she is the one bright spot the prisoners of this novel see as they peer through the small windows of their confinement....
