The Scarlet Letter (Little Pearl's role in the story and how unrealistic Hawthorne made her)

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Little Pearl was the daughter and embodied guilt of Hester Prynne, a European woman who moved to puritan New England. Hester Prynne had committed adultery. The townspeople punished her by making her wear the scarlet letter A, which stood for adultery. They cut her off from their little world. Pearl was the only good thing in Hester's secluded world. But by secluding Hester, the townspeople inevitably secluded her daughter …

…situation, let alone the fact that one event, regardless of the importance, could change a person so drastically as Pearl had changed. Little Pearl was very symbolic throughout the novel. She was the personification of the scarlet letter. She was described as Hester's joy and sorrow. Although Pearl tormented her, Hester could not live without her. But in order to show some important points and to foreshadow certain events, Hawthorne made Pearl an unrealistic character.