limmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped at it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam, that gave her face the look of a much older child.”(Hawthorne 18) Pearl also throws flowers at the scarlet letter, “covering the mother’s Lai 3breast with hurts for which she could find no balm in this world.”(Hawthorne 142) To Pearl, the scarlet letter is an awesome and interesting thing. When Pearl grows older, she too expects to wear the letter “A” on her bosom, because it is a natural part of her life. Pearl severely hurts Hester when she proclaims, “I am only a child. It (the sunshine) will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”(Hawthorne 145) Pearl adds to Hester’s pain and mimics Hester by placing a seaweed “A” on her own breast. Additionally, Pearl constantly questions the significance of the letter forcing Hester to deny the real meaning of the letter. When Pearl questions the reason for wearing the letter “a”, Hester says that it is “for the sake of its gold thread.” (Hawthorne 155) This answer does not satisfy Pearl so she contunially repeats the question. Pearl also continually demands to know where she came from, but refuses to believe that she has a Heavenly Father. After all of Hester’s pain, Pearl still continues to be a never-ending torture to her mother. When Hester finally gets enough courage to remove the letter from her body, Pearl becomes angry. Pearl insists that Hester replace the item, back to their normal appearance. This is painful for Hester because it is not simply replacing the articles of clothing, but it restores Hester’s sin and grief with them. Pearl then kisses her mother and kisses the scarlet letter also, giving Hester all of the sorrows of the world. Just as Pearl gives her own mother boundless amounts of grief, Pearl ...
