Jenna Hopson
Ms. Whitaker
English 10
3 December 2012
Among the “Labeled”
In the book, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl is being affected by the unholy acts of her mother, Hester. Pearl is the child of two sinners, Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale, in the town of Boston. Hester commits one of the most atrocious acts known to Puritan society, adultery, with Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester is impregnated by Dimmesdale and gives birth to Pearl. Everyone thinks that Hester should be punished by Pearl being taken away from her, but Hester is allowed to keep Pearl. The people of the town are brutally honest about how they feel towards Pearl sine she is the result of a sin. Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale’s wrongdoing results in the isolation of Pearl in her adolescent life.
Pearl experiences several hardships in her life. First, she experiences physical isolation. Since Pearl’s mother is placed on the edge of the town, so is she. She is forced to live on the edge of town near the forest in an abandoned cottage with her mother. Nobody in town comes near the forest because everyone thinks the forest is associated with the devil. Secondly, since no one visits them, Pearl does not get to experience playing with other children. Pearl often plays alone. Since Pearl plays alone, she does not know how to act with other children. When Pearl visits the town grocery store with her mother, she throws rocks at the other children. This is a result of Pearl’s