Pearl: Angel or Demon? Ch. 16-19

    Throughout the novel, Hawthorne had constantly likened Pearl to an elvish creature, which connotes mischief and devilishness. However in chapters 16-19 Pearl seems to temporarily transform into celestial being. The first instance of her short transformation is during Pearl and Hester's walk into the forest, Pearl is chasing the sunshine through the trees. However the sunshine seems to avoid Hester and Pearl seems to pick up on this. She explains too her mother that "The sunshine doesn't love you. It runs way and hides itself because of something on your bosom...I am  but a child. It will not flee from me... "Light is usually used to represent goodness, and in a religious sense light denotes heaven and angels.  Since the A is a symbol of sin, Hester repels the light. In this passage Hester is painted as having evil inside her, while Pearl is portrayed as being pure and innocent due to the fact that the sunlight shines on her. There is almost an angelic or other worldly quality to her which contrasts against the elvish nature that readers attribute to her.

     Pearl's angelic nature is shown when she is playing in the woods.The woods are where people do their evil doings, and thus the wilderness has been tainted by humanity which harkens back to the "black flowers of civilization." However Pearl has the opposite effect, she seems to purify the woods and nature welcomes her. This passage demonstrates the inherent goodness of the child : 

     "The great black forest- stern as is showed itself to those who brought the guilt and troubles of the world into its bosom- became the playmate of the lonely infant...the mother forest and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wilderness in the human child." 

     Usually, the forest is hateful and cruel to most people because they are the ones who corrupt nature with their sinful acts, but not Pearl. The forest is kind to her because it senses Pearl is the same as itself. She has a "wilderness in her." In this novel, the wilderness represents the untainted part of humanity. If Pearl personifies this concept of wilderness, she must be a force of good. The image of Pearl in the woods showcases that she has goodness and purity in her that many of the other people in her community lack. Perhaps this demonstrates that Pearl has an angelic spirit about her. 

 Pearl is a very unusual child,  she almost possesses a supernatural capability.  Pearl seems to be unusually perceptive and almost omniscient. For example, she knows that Reverend Dimmesdale is linked to her mother in some way because he always puts his hand over his heart. She can sense the A that is branded into his chest. Additionally she knows that the A on her mother's boddess is something negative. She attributes the symbol of the A to the "black man" or the devil. Pearl believes that her mother and Dimmesdale made a deal with the devil and that's why they are branded with A's. Despite Hester never telling her anything about the A she understands that it's something having to do with sin, and she connects her mother and the reverend even though she does not know the identity of her father. The fact that she can sense the hidden and unknown makes it seem like she is a bit more than human. 

In my opinion Pearl is the link between the human world and another world, possibly heaven. Dimmesdale makes this observation when Pearl is playing at the brook he says " I have a strange fancy that this brook is the boundary between two worlds and thou canst never meet thy Pearl again." The concept of Pearl being a thread linking two different realms lead me to my gossamer thread. 

I was immediately reminded of Avatar: The Last Airbender. On that show Avatar Aang could enter something called the Avatar State where he was simultaneously in the spirit world and earth. He would enter this state subconciously when he was in imminent danger because in this state he would have the most power. Similarly, Pearl switches between her angelic state and her childish state of mind. When Pearl is in her otherworldly state she seems to have influence and power over the people around her, especially Hester.