Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter: Analysis of chapter 16: A Forest Walk

In Chapter 16 of The Scarlet Letter, "A Forest Walk," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the majority of the passage to show how Pearl and Hester act when out of the public eye. Also, he uses the theme of nature to show what Pearl is like, who she really is, and how she is accepted by nature. In the beginning of this passage, Pearl and Hester are walking in the forest because Hester wants to reveal Chillingworth's true …

…because she puts out a light of her own; she is the light of Hester's world. She is unable to lose her light even when plunging into "some gloomier shade." Pearl is Hawthorne's way of bringing some sort of goodness into this story of sin and punishment. Pearl is the divine being that replaces all the sin that has occurred in the story and she counteracts the sins of her mother to make everything right.