Sympathy In The Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet Letter
This essay will take a defensive position on the assertion that people are not actually “humanized” or capable of sympathy until grief deeply touches them. Evidence will point out that people reactions to sympathy for others have to be emotionally induced, mostly by pain or unusual happenings and acts.
Pearl is the daughter of Hester, and the book uses her as a symbol. She becomes an important character in the book through her ability to provoke the elder character in the book by asking a question which not only draws their attention but the readers’ as well. Children in the book are portrayed to be more honest than adults, and Pearl is more perceptive than all of them.
Reverend Dimmesdale …show more content…
The theme of humanness, which is very important in the book is portrayed here. Pearl tells her mother that the sun does not love her and flee from her (Hester) because she wears something on her chest. The sun, however, does not flee from her (Pearl) because she has nothing on her chest. The sun has been used symbolically, and Pearl simply means that the lack of “sunshine” in her mother’s life is brought by what she has. Pearl’s childishness makes her not to understand the ramifications of things that she sees. Therefore, Pearl is not aware of what being human. As a child, she does not understand what suffering is - a reason why her mother did not tell her the meaning of the scarlet letter on her …show more content…
Just like any typical child, Pearl assumes that her mother represents all of the adults. She further assumes that all grown women have a scarlet letter on their chest. When Pearl asks her mother, ”Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?” (Hawthorne, 1946) she makes her mother uncomfortable. Even though Pearl assumes her mother is a representation of all the other women, she has noticed that the other women do not wear the scarlet letter. However, when we look at it on a figurative level, the scarlet letter represent sin, which is part of maturity. Scarlet is still young, does not know sin and what a mature human being goes through.
Humans are bound to sin. Hester sin has resulted from other’s sin. For instance, the willingness of Chillingworth in manipulating Hester when she was young and naïve into marriage resulted in a hardening of Hester’s heart. Furthermore, Sin breeds sin, but in a different way than what the Puritan understands. Furthermore, sin does not necessary mean contamination. However, sin is what made Hester lonely, hurt and becomes selfish of
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