In one scene of the book, Pearl requests that Hester grab some sunshine and give it to her to play with. Hester then replies, "No, my little Pearl! Thou must gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee." (p.104) Hester has no sunshine to give Pearl because she has committed adultery and is not pure.

Another example is when Hester and Pearl are taking a walk through the forest when a dark cloud came over the sky and Pearl said,

"Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of some

Hawthorne shows the symbol of sunshine best in the chapter appropriately titled, "A Flood of Sunshine." In this particular scene, Dimmesdale and Hester are discussing what Dimmesdale will do about the current situation with their relationship. Dimmesdale announces that he will leave the community, and he must do it alone. In the heat of the moment Hester declares that he will not have to go alone, and she takes off her bonnet and throws down the scarlet letter. Hawthorne describes it wonderfully:

In conclusion, the frequent use of the sunshine, showing purity and impurity, is used well by Hawthorne. He does a great job of illustrating Hester's situation and how she goes from an unwanted outcast, when she was shunned by the sun, to where she was a good, able citizen and received penance and lost the shameful "A", and the sun would shine upon her again.

Later in that walk, Hawthorne again shows how th

Some common words found in the essay are:
Dimmesdale Hester, Pearl Mother, Scarlet Letter, Pearl Thou, Hester Pearl, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Flood Sunshine, scarlet letter, little pearl, impurity hawthorne, sunshine pearl, hester replies,
Approximate Word count = 617
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)