(Hawthorne, Pg. 90)
In the Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is impregnated by Reverend Dimesdale. Her daughter, Pearl, has some early childhood issues. During the early years of her life, around three years of age, Pearl was showing some troubling signs. She was not a team player because she despised and did not get along with the other children. Living in a strictly puritan community where pleasing God was everything, Pearl stuck out like a sore thumb. After Hester jokingly and playfully said (although did not mean) that Pearl was not Hester's, but was given to her by the Heavenly Father, Pearl replied the aforementioned quote. She said this because she clearly does not believe in God. Her atheist views are due to a variety of factors. The first and foremost is the lack of a family structure. Her single mother has trouble raising her. Hester is an individual of questionable moral values, and what Pearl learns is from Hester. Pearl is also aware that she was born from sin. This psychological trauma has caused her to rebel from the strict Puritan culture and therefore not believe in God and more importantly God's laws or rules. The audacity of a three year old to be the only character in the novel to commit verbal blasphemy is impressive, and shows how much trouble Pearl really is.
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