Hester, Pearl And Dimmesdale's Sinful Conception

To Live Beyond the Battles of her Sinful Conception
Throughout Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale’s lives together depicted in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, they are all uniquely victim to the strict moral bindings present in the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s society. Hester and Dimmesdale, through an unlikely union, commit a sin which would prove to upend their lives in ways previously unimaginable. As a result of this gross breach of morals, an illegitimate child is born. Pearl is the physical manifestation of this particular action committed by her parents, however, the further actions and beliefs of her parents undoubtedly contribute to Pearl’s growing up to become a woman in the world. Despite the obstacles her and her family faces

Pearl’s ability to demonstrate resilience, not only from the perpetual shame her and her mother face, but in regards to her rejection of the everbearing religious institution in her society, is truly remarkable. To some in the colony, the circumstances in which she was born is enough to consider her a demon child, and she is treated accordingly. While her and Hester are being harassed by a group of towns children during their journey to the Governor's mansion, Pearl decides to act “With a variety of threatening gestures… and put them all to flight” (69). This moment, in addition to substantiating the proposition of Pearl’s resilience to her family shame, demonstrates to the reader that Pearl possesses a considerable self-awareness of the impression her circumstances of birth have on the people of the town. Pearl, even being a little girl, has the ability make a crowd of hasslers disperse with merely a few hostile gestures. Although she is faced with nothing but disadvantages thus far in her life, Pearl possesses the self-awareness of her situation to use the fear and animonisty thrown at her as means of leverage to preserve her well-being. These two examples of consequences stemming from Hester’s sin- the traits of resilience in terms of public disdain as well as the precocious self-awareness- developed within Pearl alongside each other. These attributes continue to be displayed throughout Pearl’s development into a young adult, and contribute to her eventual integration into