Chapter 6 Summary

Pearl is a strange, impish child. She is named, "Pearl," because she is her mother's great treasure, yet conceived, sadly, in great sin, as far as Hester and her society is concerned. Pearl's character is robust and cannot be fully restrained by all the discipline that Hester can imagine. Despite the fact that Pearl and her mother are often made the objects of humiliation, there is something in Pearl's character that resists the justice of such attacks. She does not seek the company of the ordinary children of the community, but, if they were to approach her, she does not hesitate to fiercely drive them off.

In fact, Pearl, who had committed no sin, hated those who scorned her mother and herself with an unrestrained passion. This power was so strong within her, that Hester often wondered what had been given her, an...