Entry 38:
"Thus assume the aspect of a little mermaid. She inherited her mother's gift for devising drapery and costume. As the last touch to her mermaid's garb, Pearl took some eel-grass, and imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother's. A letter,- the letter A,- but freshly green, instead of scarlet."
Being a mermaid goes back to freedom. Hester and everyone else have rules to live by, but being a mermaid is like being bird where they're able to do what they please. Pearl made herself a scarf, and a headdress as a costume, and considered that to be a talent like her mothers. The green letter A can symbolize young or unripe as for her still being too young to know what it truly symbolizes. It also has to do with nature itself.
Pearl hoped that her mother would ask what it meant, but instead Hester told her that it really had no purpose being on her bosom, and asked if she really understood the meaning. Pearl, being a child, insisted that she knew, when really she just wanted to be told the actual meaning after making a connection to Dimmesdale’s frequent habit of clutching his hand over his heart.
What do mermaid's do?
ReplyDeleteAgain good insights and reflection on how/why a child does things. Pearl, despite connection to myth, is a child.