"Mother, 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,'
'And why not mother? Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?'
'Run away, child and catch the sunshine! It will soon be gone."
((Chapter 16/PAGE 160))
The sunshine hates you! >:O
...
What is the sunshine? Is it the appearance of nature and new understanding brought to fruition by the flying meteor? Could it be the escape of society? Or is it Pearl; hesitant to love Hester due to the struggle between her and the letter to bring peace to Hester's mind?
Of course Pearl can't NOT love her own mother, but she doesn't love the public guilt in the form of the scarlet letter. It is taking Pearl's job; it is an intrusion made by the society of where an object of nature (Pearl) can alleviate the sin and guilt better than anything for sin is something man-made.
Despite this, everyone sins throughout their life. This is why Pearl insists that she will wear an icon upon her bosom at least some time in the future. The sin will come of its own accord, and Pearl will have her own public shame to live through via whatever consequence comes from her actions. (Such is life = ability to live with the consequences.)
Yes! Everyone sins and Pearl will have to face her own shame during the course of her life. BUT, Pearl also sees the "A" as a badge of adulthood. It is what her mother wears because she is her mother, and when Pearl grows-up she will nature have an "A" herself because she is her mother's child.
ReplyDelete