Summary:
The chapter begins in a field, with Roger Chillingworth stooping around and picking up herbs here and there and placing them in a basket he had on his arm. Hester, watching Chillingworth pick herbs and roots, imagines to herself a few dreadful things regarding the man. She imagines awful things directed toward Chillingworth, such as what if the earth were to grow poisonous shrubs for him to pick and why everything good he touches doesn't turn evil and hated. She wondered how the sun, shining everywhere else, fell on him. They went home after the long day and all Hester could think of was her hate for Chillingworth. He attempted to convince her to be happy by his side, but Hester was not having it. Hester then called over Pearl. While Chillingworth and Hester were speaking earlier, she entertained herself by flirting with her own image in a pool of water. Once she found out it was not real, she then continued to amuse herself by making small boats out of birch bark in which she placed snails on, she collected starfish, and placed a jellyfish to bake in the sun, beating down on it. She saw a flock of seabirds feeding near the sea shore and she began to pick up rocks and pelting them. She managed to hit one bird and break its wing, and at that point she stopped because she felt bad. Throughout the rest of the chapter, Pearl begged her mother multiple times to tell her what the "A" on her mother means as well as why the minister, Dimmesdale, keeps his hand over his heart while he sleeps. Hester refuses to tell her daughter the answer to these questions, claiming she is too young to understand. At one point she feels it would create a stronger mother-daughter bond between them, but she refrains from allowing the truth to get out. She asks her all day, falling asleep wondering why an "A" is on her mother's chest and wakes up asking yet again. Hester threatens to put her in the dark closet and the chapter ends.
Point One: Hester's Marital Struggles
Throughout the beginning parts of the chapter, Hawthorne delves into Hester's train of thought watching Chillingworth pick herbs and roots from the ground. She shows a great amount of hatred toward her husband.
"Would not the earth, quickened to an evil purpose by the sympathy of his eye, greet him with poisonous shrubs, of species hitherto unknown, that would start up under his fingers? Or might it suffice him, that every wholesome growth should be converted into something deleterious and malignant at his touch? Did the sun, which shone so brightly everywhere else, really fall upon him?" (Hawthorne, 134)
By describing her husband in this way, it shows that clearly Hester has been hurt by Chillingworth, and she feels he is evil and should pay somehow. This also shows that there is some fire in Hester and that her and Pearl really aren't too different at all. They are both stubborn and independent.
Point Two: Pearl's Attention to Detail, Pearl's Progression as a Symbol
Taking place seven years after the situation arose between Roger Chillingworth and Hester Prynne, Pearl is now older, therefore more wise and intelligent. She, as done in other chapters, acts stubborn and bold at times but also appears to be far ahead of her age when it comes to intelligence. She pieces together a relationship between Dimmesdale holding his hands to his heart as he sleeps to Hester's "A" on her chest.
"'(Hester) Dost thou know, child, wherefore thy mother wears this letter?'
'Truly do I!' answered Pearl, looking brightly into her mother's face. 'It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!'" (Hawthorne, 136)
This quote is one of the many occasions in which Pearl asked her mother for answers regarding her "A" on her chest and why the minister holds his hand over his heart when he sleeps. Pearl has progressed into a very wise young girl with great attention to detail and her intelligence allows her to piece these separate things together fairly easily. Her development as a symbol has also taken large jumps in this portion of the novel because when she is out and exploring and pelting birds with rocks, she feels remorse, adding another dimension that we have not seen before in Pearl thus far.
'Wow' Factor:
In this episode of "Spongebob Squarepants", Spongebob, Patrick and Squidward were all stuck in a treehouse next to their houses in Bikini Bottom and when Squidward tried to pull them to the ground by reaching out the window, they were flung to a remote island. They have a conch shell, which is the leader of their "club" and you cannot do anything without asking the conch first. As Spongebob and Patrick feast, Squidward is stuck asking the conch if he can eat and the conch does not approve.
This relates to Chapter 15 in "The Scarlet Letter" because throughout the chapter, Pearl is constantly asking Hester why she has an "A" on her chest and why the minister sleeps with his hand over his heart, and she refuses to tell her why because she feels Pearl is too young at the moment. Like Squidward, Pearl is asking a question over and over again, and it reminded me of this situation Squidward was in when he asked the same thing multiple times over the span of less than a minute. Both of these situations were annoying, and that, in my opinion, brought these situations together.
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