Hawthorne
describes Hester as one who is really good at sewing, so she makes a career out of making and
fixing all types of clothing. It would make sense, then, that she would make clothes for her own
daughter. Hester certainly has a unique eye and bold style because she chooses reds and golds
for her daughter to wear. The Puritans were a humble and simple people who wouldn't seek to
stand out in a crowd, so they didn't wear a lot of color, if any. Astakes to the streets by
chapter seven, she is received by little children with mocking words and mud clots thrown at
her. Pearl runs them off and does not feel ashamed of who she is though; and, her personality
and clothing seem to speak for her. Hawthorne explains it best, though:
"Pearl's rich and luxuriant beauty; a beauty that shone with
deep and vivid tints; a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and
hair already a deep, glossy brown, and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black.
There was fire in her and throughout her, she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate
moment. Her mother, in contriving the child's garb, had allowed the gorgeous tendencies of her
imagination their full play; arraying her in a crimson velvet tunic, of a peculiar cut,
abundantly embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread. So much strength of
colouring, . . . that it irresistibly and inevitably reminded the beholder of the token whichwas
doomed to wear upon her bosom. It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter
endowed with life" (48)
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