Nature's Innocence

In all of the books that have involved children that we have read in 11 AP, they have always symbolized pure, truthful, and unbiased judgement. For example, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck and Tom are both untainted by the racism in society, and decide to help Jim become a free man. In The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, when Walls and her siblings are young, they believe in everything their father says. Walls believes that her father is good at heart, which he is, however as she grows older she decides to try and leave the family for a better life. Walls' change of judgement was due to her siblings influence on her however. In the book The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the child, Pearl, does not symbolize innocence. Actually she symbolizes the exact opposite. Pearl is a constant reminder of punishment and even compared to being a "demon child." I believe that Hawthorne's purpose in deviating from the norm of children in literature was to emphasize how Pearl is a result of sin. Although, the child doesn't serve as a symbol of innocence in the book, there is still a feeling of innocence radiating from nature. Hester and Dimmesdale find refuge in the woods together for a couple of hours, knowing that nature will not judge them. Pearl, though not a symbol of innocence by herself, is also seen as innocent while in nature. In The Scarlet Letter, nature takes the place of a child's mind in symbolizing purity to emphasize Hawthorne's dissent from Puritanical society and movement to Romanticism.