its reach" (84).Lacking any form of maternal guidance, Pearl pretty much does what she pleases; her creativity leads her to make up her own entertainment. Pearl's lack of friends forces her to imagine the forest as her plaything. However, she is clearly upset about her banishment and resents the people in the town, whom she views as enemies. "The pine trees needed little to [become] Puritan elders [and] the ugliest weeds their children" (87). Pearl acts to use her environment as a basis for her manifestations: "She never created a friend, but seemed always to be sowing broadcast the dragon's teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against whom she rushed to battle. It was inexpressibly sad--then what depth of sorrow to a mother, who felt her own heart the cause" (88)! Hester would have never been found guilty of adultery if Pearl had never been born, and thus never would have had to wear her burden upon her chest. Hester feels guilty because she truly believes in her heart that it is her sin causing Pearl to become aware of harsh realities of the world. Pearl responds to this harshness by defending her mother, sticking up for Hester against the Puritan children when they start to hurl mud at her. What stands out is Pearl's love for her mother, and the way she spurns these "virtuous youths" who condemn her without even knowing the reason. Pearl is a very vivacious child whose love for her mother is deep even though she does not always show it. By the end of the story, when Hester is finally able to release her sin, Pearl is no longer a creation of a clandestine passion but the daughter of a minister and a ravishing young woman. She is only from that moment onward able to live her without the weight of her mother's vice. In fact, Hawthorne points out what is viewed as normal because of the burden lifted from her soul: "they [Pearl's tears] were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow" (233).Pearl i...
