"Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!" "Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester. "And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. "Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?" "Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone." Pearl set forth, at a great pace, and, as Hester smiled to perceive, did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendor, and scintillating with the vivacity excited by rapid motion. The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate, until her mother had drawn almost nigh enough to step into the magic circle too. "It will go now!" said Pearl, shaking her head. "See!" answered Hester, smiling. "Now I can stretch out my hand, and grasp some of it." As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl's features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade. There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted vigor in Pearl's nature, as this never-failing vivacity of spirits; she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children, in these latter days, inherit, with the scrofula, from the troubles of their ancestors.”-chapter 16 A Forest Walk pg.160 CONTEXT: This is in the same chapter where Hester tells Dimmesdale the truth about Chillingsworth and they decide to runaway together. It is right before they meet up with Dimmesdale and pearl goes off into the woods by herself and allegedly pets a wild wolf. Pearl asks her mom if the sunshine fears her because it seems to avoid her. The symbol I’m discussing is light which obviously, is a part of nature. I think this sunshine and light represents innocence, purity, and goodness which is its trend in most metaphors. When you think of sunshine you think of bright clear unobstructed sky on a bright day. Just like purity by definition is unobstructed from evil. Light also naturally goes in a straight line just like the moral metaphor of life “The straight and narrow path.” It represents goodness because whenever someone does a genuinely good act people can’t help but notice. The same can be said about light it is impossible to ignore. I think light and sunshine fit into the greater purpose and message of the book because the book is dealing with the moral issue of adultery and what is ultimately good and evil. I believe what Hawthorne is trying to say is that Pearl is just an innocent product of the adultery and it is not her fault. The fact that there is a definitive line the light won’ t cross in proximity to Hester could should a knowledge from the light as to her not being pure of innocent but also how she is not evil because she isn’t in complete darkness. I do not believe that the definition of light changed at the end of the book but rather those who defined it. Its counterpart would be darkness, sin, evilness, and the devil. In part of the book people start to see the scarlet letter as a symbol of hope and power that could allegedly stop a deadly arrow in its tracks. I think the light and sunshine relate to darkness and evil and that nature has a power struggle. What is good and what is evil necessarily? Is there enough light to balance the dark? Most of all does good really always beat evil in the end?
“One little gray bird, with a white breast, Pearl was almost sure, had been hit by a pebble, and fluttered away with a broken wing. But then the elf-child sighed, and gave up her sport; because it grieved her to have done harm to a little being that was as wild as the sea-breeze, or as wild as Pearl herself.”
This passage is just after Pearl has hit a bird with a pebble and hurt it. This connection Pearl has with nature shows how different Pearl is from the rest of society. It is also represented here, while Hester and Dimmsdale are talking and Pearl is playing:
“The great black forest--stern as it showed itself to those who brought the guilt and troubles of the world into its bosom--became the playmate of the lonely infant, as well as it knew how.”
The girl is so different from society; she is more nature than humanity. Here logic about Dimmsdale has a very simple, almost primitive flow to it. Her representation of simplicity goes hand in hand with how animals act, rather than how humans respond to problems. She sees Dimmsdale, and knows he needs to be with them, so that’s what she thinks should happen. She ignores society’s strict social contract and acts by what makes the most sense, bypassing formalities and others view. She gives nature its role in this book: the opposite of society, as well as where society came from.
Pearl acts directly against what should be expected from a young girl. She shows in this book what would come from a girl who lived in seclusion her life, with no lasting human relationship and contact. The author is showing how simple life is without societies complications. If something makes sense, it is right, no questions.
The end of the novel, while Pearl changes yes, what she represented did not. Her future still was in opposition to society, though more indirectly. She receives money and land free. That goes against the Puritan life of hard work and philanthropy. Even though she no longer acts crazy, she is still opposing society, though less connected to nature.
Nature and Pearl are the complete opposite of society. Society is strict, courteous, difficult and refined. Pearl is carefree, slightly rude, selfish at times, wild, and thinks extremely straight forward without many variables in her decisions, rather than the hoops society has to jump through in order to accomplish a task.
Nature inside of Pearl gives the book a frustrating solution that the reader realizes can never be reality. If life were to be as simple as nature, humans would cease to be human. Pearl combats society throughout the entire book, as she attempts to fix its major flaws. Her representation of nature gives life in the town almost a standard of perfection, without trouble or even conflict. The author wishes for society to be as simple as Pearl desires it to be.
By this time Pearl had reached the margin of the brook, and stood on the farther side, gazing silently at Hester and the clergyman, who still sat together on the mossy tree-trunk, waiting to receive her. Just where she had paused the brook chanced to form a pool, so smooth and quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment of flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualized than the reality. This image, so nearly identical with the living Pearl, seemed to communicate somewhat of its own shadowy and intangible quality to the child herself. It was strange, the way in which Pearl stood, looking so steadfastly at them through the dim medium of the forest-gloom; herself, meanwhile, all glorified with a ray of sunshine, that was attracted thitherward as by a certain sympathy. In the brook beneath stood another child,--another and the same,--with likewise its ray of golden light. Hester felt herself, in some indistinct and tantalizing manner, estranged from Pearl; as if the child, in her lonely ramble through the forest, had strayed out of the sphere in which she and her mother dwelt together, and was now vainly seeking to return to it.
Pearl seems to relate to nature so well. It makes her seem like an angelic child. The way nature portrays her in the brook.
The book shows Pearl as kind of a wild child, one of nature and beauty. Hawthorne is trying to show us that even though she is the result of a sin she is still beautiful and is more beautiful in a way then some others. This affects the book because it shows us that she is a beautiful child of nature. Her counterpart could be the puritan kids. They make fun of her and are not truly beautiful inside like she is. They show that the sin is wrong even though it was one of love and passion. She represents nature in the way that nature is the way of life and she has been produced because of it.
"But the brook, in the course of its little lifetime among the forest-trees, had gone through so solemn an experience that it could not help talking about it, and seemed to have nothing else to say. Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom. But, unlike the little stream, she danced and sparkled, and prattled airily along her course." p.163
The forest seems to be mysterious and it indulges in the sin that Hester commited. Hester watches Pearl and sees the way Pearl brings light to the forest. She is able to be happy though she was born into an unfortunate darkness.
The darkness of the forest is evil and the stream that runs through is mysterious. It shows that Pearl can move away from the shadows and find the light in the darkness. This shows the purity of Pearl and that she is a part of nature.
An opposite symbol is the town where it is all light but the evil lies in the shadows. A similar symbol is the scarlet letter because it is beautiful though it is a sign of evil. Hawthorne is trying to contrast the good and evil in nature.
"Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!" "Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester. "And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. "Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?" "Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone." Pearl set forth, at a great pace, and, as Hester smiled to perceive, did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendor, and scintillating with the vivacity excited by rapid motion. The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate, until her mother had drawn almost nigh enough to step into the magic circle too. "It will go now!" said Pearl, shaking her head. "See!" answered Hester, smiling. "Now I can stretch out my hand, and grasp some of it." As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl's features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade. There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted vigor in Pearl's nature, as this never-failing vivacity of spirits; she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children, in these latter days, inherit, with the scrofula, from the troubles of their ancestors. Perhaps this too was a disease, and but the reflex of the wild energy with which Hester had fought against her sorrows, before Pearl's birth. It was certainly a doubtful charm, imparting a hard, metallic lustre to the child's character. She wanted--what some people want throughout life--a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanize and make her capable of sympathy. But there was time enough yet for little Pearl!
The sunshine represents society. Both society and the sunshine shun Hester, for her sin. Pearl is not yet shunned though, because she is just an innocent child produced from Hester's sin. This symbol fits into the greater purpose and message of the book, because it is the scarlet letter's job to get society to shun her. The scarlet letter is the reason the sunshine is shunning her as well. Hawthorne is trying to say that society and sunshine are alike in their liveliness and ability to judge. When the novel ultimately ends, Hester is still not a part of society; Hester has isolated herself from the rest of society. However, the sunshine does shine on her, because she has learned her lesson throughout the novel. The symbol's counterpart is darkness. The darkness represents sin and hell. A person should want to be in the sunshine, and not in the darkness. This symbol relates to the rest of the book because, in a way, everyone has darkness, sin, and is somewhat affected by the Devil. Hawthorne is trying to say that nobody is perfect, and everyone has sin. Hester is just punished more severly for hers.
Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . . It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” “Nor ever will, my child, I hope,” said Hester. “And why not, mother?” asked Pearl, stopping short. . . . “Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?” Chapter 16 " A Forest Walk" In this Quotation Pearl is identifying that her mother Hester doesnot have happyness in her life. She is saying that the Scarlet letter on her bosom is taking away happyness in her life and is making her think about what she has done. Hester Has blocked herself away from society she knows what she did was wrong and has learned her lesson. Hester has made clothing for others and has seen other women that have sined to. When Hester makes the dresses for the other womeni think that this is showing that light is shining on Hester because she is being a good example for pearl and is showing that she is not bad because of that one sin. Society plays a big role in this but Hester has cut herself off from society. She knows what she did was wrong but never comes out to repent. Hester notices all of the other women and knows that she is not the only one that has flaws.
Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!" "Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester. "And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. "Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?" "Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone." Pearl reliazes that every time the sun is out in her mother is near the sun tends to disapper and hides in a shadow. Pearl tells her mother that the sun doesnt like you and in respond Hester tells Pearl to enjoy the sunshine while its out!
"Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!"
ReplyDelete"Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester.
"And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. "Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?"
"Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone."
Pearl set forth, at a great pace, and, as Hester smiled to perceive, did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendor, and scintillating with the vivacity excited by rapid motion. The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate, until her mother had drawn almost nigh enough to step into the magic circle too.
"It will go now!" said Pearl, shaking her head.
"See!" answered Hester, smiling. "Now I can stretch out my hand, and grasp some of it."
As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl's features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade. There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted vigor in Pearl's nature, as this never-failing vivacity of spirits; she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children, in these latter days, inherit, with the scrofula, from the troubles of their ancestors.”-chapter 16 A Forest Walk pg.160
CONTEXT: This is in the same chapter where Hester tells Dimmesdale the truth about Chillingsworth and they decide to runaway together. It is right before they meet up with Dimmesdale and pearl goes off into the woods by herself and allegedly pets a wild wolf. Pearl asks her mom if the sunshine fears her because it seems to avoid her.
The symbol I’m discussing is light which obviously, is a part of nature. I think this sunshine and light represents innocence, purity, and goodness which is its trend in most metaphors. When you think of sunshine you think of bright clear unobstructed sky on a bright day. Just like purity by definition is unobstructed from evil. Light also naturally goes in a straight line just like the moral metaphor of life “The straight and narrow path.” It represents goodness because whenever someone does a genuinely good act people can’t help but notice. The same can be said about light it is impossible to ignore.
I think light and sunshine fit into the greater purpose and message of the book because the book is dealing with the moral issue of adultery and what is ultimately good and evil. I believe what Hawthorne is trying to say is that Pearl is just an innocent product of the adultery and it is not her fault. The fact that there is a definitive line the light won’ t cross in proximity to Hester could should a knowledge from the light as to her not being pure of innocent but also how she is not evil because she isn’t in complete darkness. I do not believe that the definition of light changed at the end of the book but rather those who defined it. Its counterpart would be darkness, sin, evilness, and the devil. In part of the book people start to see the scarlet letter as a symbol of hope and power that could allegedly stop a deadly arrow in its tracks. I think the light and sunshine relate to darkness and evil and that nature has a power struggle. What is good and what is evil necessarily? Is there enough light to balance the dark? Most of all does good really always beat evil in the end?
“One little gray bird, with a white breast, Pearl was almost sure, had been hit by a pebble, and fluttered away with a broken wing. But then the elf-child sighed, and gave up her sport; because it grieved her to have done harm to a little being that was as wild as the sea-breeze, or as wild as Pearl herself.”
ReplyDeleteThis passage is just after Pearl has hit a bird with a pebble and hurt it. This connection Pearl has with nature shows how different Pearl is from the rest of society. It is also represented here, while Hester and Dimmsdale are talking and Pearl is playing:
“The great black forest--stern as it showed itself to those who brought the guilt and troubles of the world into its bosom--became the playmate of the lonely infant, as well as it knew how.”
The girl is so different from society; she is more nature than humanity. Here logic about Dimmsdale has a very simple, almost primitive flow to it. Her representation of simplicity goes hand in hand with how animals act, rather than how humans respond to problems. She sees Dimmsdale, and knows he needs to be with them, so that’s what she thinks should happen. She ignores society’s strict social contract and acts by what makes the most sense, bypassing formalities and others view. She gives nature its role in this book: the opposite of society, as well as where society came from.
Pearl acts directly against what should be expected from a young girl. She shows in this book what would come from a girl who lived in seclusion her life, with no lasting human relationship and contact. The author is showing how simple life is without societies complications. If something makes sense, it is right, no questions.
The end of the novel, while Pearl changes yes, what she represented did not. Her future still was in opposition to society, though more indirectly. She receives money and land free. That goes against the Puritan life of hard work and philanthropy. Even though she no longer acts crazy, she is still opposing society, though less connected to nature.
Nature and Pearl are the complete opposite of society. Society is strict, courteous, difficult and refined. Pearl is carefree, slightly rude, selfish at times, wild, and thinks extremely straight forward without many variables in her decisions, rather than the hoops society has to jump through in order to accomplish a task.
Nature inside of Pearl gives the book a frustrating solution that the reader realizes can never be reality. If life were to be as simple as nature, humans would cease to be human. Pearl combats society throughout the entire book, as she attempts to fix its major flaws. Her representation of nature gives life in the town almost a standard of perfection, without trouble or even conflict. The author wishes for society to be as simple as Pearl desires it to be.
By this time Pearl had reached the margin of the brook, and stood on the farther side, gazing silently at Hester and the clergyman, who still sat together on the mossy tree-trunk, waiting to receive her. Just where she had paused the brook chanced to form a pool, so smooth and quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment of flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualized than the reality. This image, so nearly identical with the living Pearl, seemed to communicate somewhat of its own shadowy and intangible quality to the child herself. It was strange, the way in which Pearl stood, looking so steadfastly at them through the dim medium of the forest-gloom; herself, meanwhile, all glorified with a ray of sunshine, that was attracted thitherward as by a certain sympathy. In the brook beneath stood another child,--another and the same,--with likewise its ray of golden light. Hester felt herself, in some indistinct and tantalizing manner, estranged from Pearl; as if the child, in her lonely ramble through the forest, had strayed out of the sphere in which she and her mother dwelt together, and was now vainly seeking to return to it.
ReplyDeletePearl seems to relate to nature so well. It makes her seem like an angelic child. The way nature portrays her in the brook.
The book shows Pearl as kind of a wild child, one of nature and beauty. Hawthorne is trying to show us that even though she is the result of a sin she is still beautiful and is more beautiful in a way then some others. This affects the book because it shows us that she is a beautiful child of nature. Her counterpart could be the puritan kids. They make fun of her and are not truly beautiful inside like she is. They show that the sin is wrong even though it was one of love and passion. She represents nature in the way that nature is the way of life and she has been produced because of it.
"But the brook, in the course of its little lifetime among the forest-trees, had gone through so solemn an experience that it could not help talking about it, and seemed to have nothing else to say. Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom. But, unlike the little stream, she danced and sparkled, and prattled airily along her course."
ReplyDeletep.163
The forest seems to be mysterious and it indulges in the sin that Hester commited. Hester watches Pearl and sees the way Pearl brings light to the forest. She is able to be happy though she was born into an unfortunate darkness.
The darkness of the forest is evil and the stream that runs through is mysterious. It shows that Pearl can move away from the shadows and find the light in the darkness. This shows the purity of Pearl and that she is a part of nature.
An opposite symbol is the town where it is all light but the evil lies in the shadows. A similar symbol is the scarlet letter because it is beautiful though it is a sign of evil. Hawthorne is trying to contrast the good and evil in nature.
"Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!"
ReplyDelete"Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester.
"And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. "Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?"
"Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone."
Pearl set forth, at a great pace, and, as Hester smiled to perceive, did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendor, and scintillating with the vivacity excited by rapid motion. The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate, until her mother had drawn almost nigh enough to step into the magic circle too.
"It will go now!" said Pearl, shaking her head.
"See!" answered Hester, smiling. "Now I can stretch out my hand, and grasp some of it."
As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl's features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade. There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted vigor in Pearl's nature, as this never-failing vivacity of spirits; she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children, in these latter days, inherit, with the scrofula, from the troubles of their ancestors. Perhaps this too was a disease, and but the reflex of the wild energy with which Hester had fought against her sorrows, before Pearl's birth. It was certainly a doubtful charm, imparting a hard, metallic lustre to the child's character. She wanted--what some people want throughout life--a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanize and make her capable of sympathy. But there was time enough yet for little Pearl!
The sunshine represents society. Both society and the sunshine shun Hester, for her sin. Pearl is not yet shunned though, because she is just an innocent child produced from Hester's sin. This symbol fits into the greater purpose and message of the book, because it is the scarlet letter's job to get society to shun her. The scarlet letter is the reason the sunshine is shunning her as well. Hawthorne is trying to say that society and sunshine are alike in their liveliness and ability to judge. When the novel ultimately ends, Hester is still not a part of society; Hester has isolated herself from the rest of society. However, the sunshine does shine on her, because she has learned her lesson throughout the novel. The symbol's counterpart is darkness. The darkness represents sin and hell. A person should want to be in the sunshine, and not in the darkness. This symbol relates to the rest of the book because, in a way, everyone has darkness, sin, and is somewhat affected by the Devil. Hawthorne is trying to say that nobody is perfect, and everyone has sin. Hester is just punished more severly for hers.
Lauren reeder
ReplyDeleteMother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . . It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”
“Nor ever will, my child, I hope,” said Hester.
“And why not, mother?” asked Pearl, stopping short. . . . “Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?”
Chapter 16 " A Forest Walk" In this Quotation Pearl is identifying that her mother Hester doesnot have happyness in her life. She is saying that the Scarlet letter on her bosom is taking away happyness in her life and is making her think about what she has done. Hester Has blocked herself away from society she knows what she did was wrong and has learned her lesson. Hester has made clothing for others and has seen other women that have sined to. When Hester makes the dresses for the other womeni think that this is showing that light is shining on Hester because she is being a good example for pearl and is showing that she is not bad because of that one sin. Society plays a big role in this but Hester has cut herself off from society. She knows what she did was wrong but never comes out to repent. Hester notices all of the other women and knows that she is not the only one that has flaws.
Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!"
ReplyDelete"Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester.
"And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. "Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?"
"Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone."
Pearl reliazes that every time the sun is out in her mother is near the sun tends to disapper and hides in a shadow. Pearl tells her mother that the sun doesnt like you and in respond Hester tells Pearl to enjoy the sunshine while its out!