Pearl In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

What is the message that Hawthorne's trying to demonstrate with the character pearl? This question has been running through my mind throughout the entire book. Pearl is my absolute favorite character in the scarlet letter. I find her intriguing. Mostly because she acts really crazy and weird. I think that pearl is intriguing because of what I think hawthorne's reasoning for putting her as a main character in the book. My theory is that hawthorne was trying to teach us the value and importance of children and their knowledge. One of the main reasons I think this is because I think that Hawthorne intended for pearl to sort of represent innocence. In the bible when Adam and Eve sin, they are cast out of paradise. After this they cry a lot and

So I think Hawthorne named her pearl because she is the product of a sin, like Adam and Eve eating the apple, but she is like the pearls from the story. She is good and pure. Even though she was brought into the world through a sinful act. So even her name is representative of something I think hawthorn was trying to convey, all children are innocent. No matter what their parents are like. Throughout the book he talks about sin and how everyone is a sinner but pearl was talking to Hester and she said, "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 there is nothing on my bosom yet!" (Hawthorne 166). This quote is so important because the whole book Hawthorne is practically beating into our heads that everyone has sinned but then he says that pearl hasn't sinned. But when she says the word "yet" it implies that when she gets older she will most likely eventually sin. But for now she is an innocent. I think by saying this he is trying to convey that all children are born