ection with Nature and sin against puritan way of life. This rosebush symbolizes the sympathy of Nature towards the very people Puritan society has condemned.The idea illustrated by the rosebush can therefore be applied to the specific character of Pearl. Because Pearl was expelled from Puritan society Nature sympathizes with her. Nature's sympathy and partiality with Pearl can be seen with the sunshine in the forest. Pearl attempts to "catch" the sunshine and according to Hawthorn "Pearl . . . did actually catch the sunshine . . . The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate . . ."(146). Hawthorn describes another sign of acceptance as the "great black forest . . . became the playmate of the lonely infant"(163). Hawthorne eventually declares that "The truth seems to be . . . that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child"(163). All natural things and Nature accept this little girl who has been thrust out of Puritan society.A way to strengthen this point is to show Nature's reaction to Hester. The strange thing is that the sunshine runs from Hester even though it was her sin against the Puritan laws that produced Pearl who is accepted by the sunshine or Nature. In fact "[the sunshine] runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on [Hester's] bosom" (146), the Scarlet Letter, which represents Hester's acceptance of Puritan law and way of life. Therefore her sin doesn't invite the sympathy of Nature. This is why when she throws the letter on the ground "forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest . . ."(162). Only then did Nature show its acceptance by flooding the forest with sunshine.The sympathy that Nature extends to Pearl is what makes her so different. Pearl has two personalities, one being that which belongs to Puritan life, the other being that of the wild "elf-child" of the forest. For h...
