2. Dimmesdale is the only person who supports Hester’s plea to keep Pearl. Is this the position expected of a Puritan minister? Do you think Dimmesdale is an effective religious leader?
1. The narrator calls the Puritan children “hearless.” Describe the way they treat Pearl. Why do you think the children act like this?
2. Dimmesdale is the only person who supports Hester’s plea to keep Pearl. Is this the position expected of a Puritan minister? Do you think Dimmesdale is an effective religious leader?
63 Comments
Lindsey Diamond
7/2/2018 04:18:22 pm
1. Every time Hester and Pearl enter the village they are treated with disgust. Although some of the people didn’t say the rude thoughts they had, the children did. They often stared at Hester and Pearl, or they threw mud at them and mocked them. The people also believed Pearl is a demon conceived in sin. I believe that the children treat Pearl this way because it was what they were taught and what they observed from their parents. They society they were growing up in was harsh and judgmental. They would enforce a punishment on a sinner publicly and the children were therefore introduced to treat those people harshly too. When a child grows up they often look to their parents, and they often act like them. Their parents often talked about Hester and Pearl negatively, so the children did too. Although they didn’t understand why, they knew Pearl was different and therefore treated her different.
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Connor Atwell
7/3/2018 12:43:59 pm
1. The adults treated Hester with hate and disgust, but would make an effort not to say horrible things to her face. However, the children had no such filter. They may not have understood what she did and why it was so wrong, but they heard the names she was called and repeated it like the sponges that young children are. The children also vaguely know that Pearl is different. They don't understand why, but they know that she is not the same. They do not let her play with them or mingle with them. When the children crowd around her calling them names, Pearl throws stones at them out of anger.
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Ellie Gillam
7/12/2018 05:58:41 am
I agree with your second answer, but i would like to point out that a religious leader should side with what God thinks is right not what they think is right. This might have been what you were going for i just felt the need to clarify
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Alaina Olsen
7/25/2018 09:33:35 pm
2. I would agree if he was not supposed to follow religious law. He was an effective leader in the sense that he stayed true to what he thought was right, but not an effective religious one.
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Avery King
7/4/2018 11:33:13 am
1. Hester tried to give Pearl the best chance at creating her own reputation; however, the young girl was only seen as a product of adultery. The children do not fully understand this concept and do not personally feel hatred toward Pearl. They only hear how the parents talk about her, and they treat her accordingly. This means the children taunted her, excluded her, and even thought she was a demon.
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Anne Simmons
7/10/2018 12:24:26 pm
I fully agree with your statements on how the children were treating pearl. How they learn everything from there parents and just use it against pearl not fully understanding what they are doing it wrong
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7/18/2018 10:35:15 am
Agreed, Parents can influence the minds of children who know nothing about what they're talking about.
Lauren Dossett
7/27/2018 11:37:17 am
I agree. The children treated Pearl the way they did, not because they knew anything about her, but they knew that something was wrong with her and her mother.
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Misty Wilson
7/31/2018 10:39:42 am
I agree the way pearl was treated by the children was unfair. The children were just repeating what they heard their parents were saying not realizing it wrong .
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Anne Simmons
7/10/2018 12:21:09 pm
1. Hester and Pearl were looked at as outcasts and disgraceful. The other adults of lived in the village in Boston would look at Hester and Pearl with disgust, but would never make an effort to say it to them. But those adults gossiped about Pearl and Hester to where the kids could hear and take those words and use it against them. The kids knew what they were doing wasn’t right but since they are young they didn’t fully understand exactly what they were doing at the time. The kids act like this, because they learned it from there parents. Its since we pick up on habits from our parents, there not always good as this one wasn’t.
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Avery King
7/10/2018 09:08:15 pm
I really like your point on how Hester is just assumed to horribly fail at raising her daughter. Because of the fact that Hester has been through so much, I feel like she would do an even better job at raising Pearl because she can teach from her experiences. The community just assumes she will teach Pearl to follow in her sinful ways.
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Alaina Olsen
7/29/2018 03:51:48 pm
Exactly! They assume the phrase, "once a sinner, always a sinner" applies to Hester which is not true... Pearl might not turn out to be the most normal child, but Hester is not striving to be a bad influence.
Hallie Ladner
7/30/2018 02:18:48 pm
I strongly agree with Anne's response. I agree that the kids do not fully understand what was going on or even happening. They just acted in a immature way because they hear what the parents say so the judgement of the kids was strictly due to the opinions of the parents.
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Ellie Gillam
7/12/2018 05:54:21 am
1. Children soak up information from their parents. Adults always need to watch what they say around children. In this case, what the adults don't say to Hester's face comes back around through their children to Pearl. No one attempts to give Pearl a chance because of her mother's past choice. I wouldn't call the children heartless because children don't know what is wrong until someone tells them. It is easy for readers to get caught up in the front of the story, but if you think about how children's minds work you will see that these children are learning from their parents and don't have a way of realizing that this is not how you treat other people.
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Lindsey Diamond
7/12/2018 09:33:24 am
I completely agree that the adults are to blame for the childrens' behavior, and they need to be more attentive to what they say around their children.
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Clayton Stoddard
7/16/2018 10:41:43 am
The parents probably did this on purpose to push their beliefs on them.
Lauren Johnson
7/17/2018 06:37:09 pm
I agree that the children lack an understanding of their actions. Because they only see hostility toward Hester and her daughter, they behave in a way only a child knows how. They don't comprehend why they are harsh to Pearl; they just follow their parents' example.
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Meredith Collins
7/18/2018 01:57:47 pm
I agree that the parents are the main reason the children are so brutal to Pearl and her mother. I also agree that Dimmesdale was proving that he was a good minister when he let Hester keep Pearl.
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Ben Hartery
7/14/2018 11:42:38 am
1. The children treat pearl like she is not even a real person, just an object to laugh at and make fun of. The reason they do this is because it was how they were raised. They see their parents and their role models doing the same thing so why wouldn't they do it.
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Teal Salloum
7/25/2018 11:38:07 am
I completely agree on this statement. The children were following the way their parents were acting, possibly without even realizing it.
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Ben Hartery
7/14/2018 11:50:24 am
Dimmesdale was not expected to pick Hester's side. The fact that he convinced all the other leaders that she should keep the baby proves the fact that he is a good religious leader. He didn't give into the peer pressure of his colleagues and did what was right by giving a poor woman her most prized possession.
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Hallie Ladner
7/30/2018 02:22:51 pm
I agree with Ben's answer. Dimmesdale, a religious leader was not expected to act on and take up for Hester's side. By him showing compassion for her he proved that he was indeed a good religious leader no matter what the people were saying and doing.
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Clayton Stoddard
7/16/2018 10:37:48 am
1. The children are raised to not respect Pearl or Hester. They are only mirroring what they hear from their parents. They seem to think they are better than her and they have been taught to believe that.
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Ethan Parks
7/16/2018 02:51:50 pm
I also agree that Dimmesdale is very open to other ideas, he sees things in a different way, for example he sees Pearl as a way for Hester to repent.
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Connor Atwell
7/17/2018 05:28:56 pm
I agree with your first point that the children merely mirror what their parents do and say. However, I feel that the children do not have the same filter of what they say because they don't fully understand what they are saying.
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Gracie Davenport
7/25/2018 04:04:35 pm
I agree with both of Clayton's points. A young child's mind absorbs everything they are taught or hear from others. Dimmesdale had extremely good morals for someone so influential in a very religious society.
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7/16/2018 02:12:55 pm
1. Pearl and Hester are treated awfully in that they were mocked and ridiculed for being different. The children would throw mud and speak bad about Pearl. I believe they did this due to their parents and how they reacted about the matter.
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7/17/2018 12:29:52 pm
I agree with your statement that the parents are responsible for the children's actions. The parents reactions shaped how the children would think of Hester and Pearl.
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Ethan Parks
7/16/2018 02:47:31 pm
1. The children are baised to the opinion that Hester is evil, due to the talk of their parents and how the parents treat Hester, so the children treat her badly and mock her.
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Malea Marchioni
7/16/2018 07:19:39 pm
I agree that the parents really are the main influence for the children's actions. As if they wouldn't dare act out or speak against them in public so they push their opinions into the children's heads and they form the idea to take action.
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Malea Marchioni
7/16/2018 07:16:30 pm
1. The children isolated Pearl and showed their dislike and nasty opinion towards Hester and the child when they showed themselves to the public. They made no effort to hide their feelings as some of the adults did. Instead the children were hateful and somewhat abusive towards them, purposefully showing that they believed Pearl was not a normal child, but one of a demon. I believe they act and treat them like this because they are never told to do otherwise. They may get the ideas from adults or other children, but they're never corrected or scolded so they believe it is ok to do.
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Gabriela Patino
7/27/2018 10:11:00 pm
I agree with the statement that the children acted in the way they did towards Pearl because they were never told to do otherwise. Their parents probably never corrected them, and all they probably heard about Pearl and Hester was rude and mean.
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Micah Webb
7/30/2018 03:59:25 pm
I agree that the abusive behavior from the children come from the lack of correction from adults and their peers. I also agree with your point about Dimmesdale's leadership. He has such a powerful influence that it does not take much for others to agree with him.
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7/17/2018 12:27:38 pm
1. The children treat Hester and Pearl horribly, usually because they are always together. They spew insults, throw things, and do whatever else they can to ridicule them. I believe that the children do this because that is what they are taught to do. Children don't do things unless they have seen others do it first.
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James Frazier
7/18/2018 11:16:25 am
I agree that the children do these things because they see their parents doing such things and replicate it.
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Abigail O'Connell
7/24/2018 01:23:44 pm
I completely agree that children make decisions based off of the actions they see their parents or other people commit.
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Mitchell Badurak
7/25/2018 05:04:22 pm
I agree that the children try to mimic their parents with these rude actions.
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Lauren Johnson
7/17/2018 06:31:32 pm
1. The children treat Pearl like a wild animal. They taunt and tease her while tossing sticks and rocks. Because of their condemning parents and lack of understanding, it's easy for them to find Pearl an object of entertainment and spite.
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James Frazier
7/18/2018 11:13:45 am
1) The children treat her terribly and basically bully her because she is the child of adultery. I believe the children act this way because they see their parents acting this way and they replicate it.
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Jesse Kearns
7/25/2018 11:17:48 am
I agree with your response to the second question. The Puritan society is supposed to be built on morals, and as such the position that Mr. Dimmesdale takes is a righteous one. His reasoning behind it is as you say. If the mother retained the child, she would be inclined to teach the child more holy ways, so that Pearl does not end up in the same state that Hester was in.
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Meredith Collins
7/18/2018 01:54:26 pm
1) The children would stand around Pearl and her mother and say mean things to them. They also exclude Pearl. The children act this way because they know from their parents that Hester has done something wrong. Their parents treat her poorly, so they treat Pearl poorly.
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Jacob Roberts
7/21/2018 11:33:51 am
I agree that the responsibility of raising Pearl and seeing the effect of her sin everyday is a part of Hester's penance.
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Jacob Roberts
7/20/2018 03:42:51 pm
1. The children do not attempt to hide their dislike for Hester and Pearl. They go so far as to want to fling mud at them. They likely treat Pearl this way because they see their parents treat them differently and see their seclusion from the rest of society.
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Carmen DeStazio
7/26/2018 05:32:59 pm
I think the kids are not the ones that hate Hester and Pearl. They were taught to hate and mistreat them by their parents, and they see their parents mistreat them so they do it too. It is more of a monkey-see-monkey-do situation rather than their own choices.
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Abigail O'Connell
7/24/2018 01:19:53 pm
1. Children learn from their parents, teachers, and ministers. They learn from what they are taught and what they see. The people around Hester treated her as an outcast. It is not surprising that the children treated Pearl the same. The children would refuse to play with Pearl. They also spoke badly about her and to her.
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Jesse Kearns
7/25/2018 11:12:17 am
1) Pearl is treated as an outcast, a being below human. They were taught that Hester was a sinful woman, and as such, show no respect to Hester or her daughter. The adults are slightly less outward in their opinion and are certainly less physical. The children are more innocent and soak up their parent’s words like sponges, then they take these teachings and reflect their parent’s attitudes in their actions towards Hester and Pearl.
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Teal Salloum
7/25/2018 11:48:12 am
1) The narrator called the Puritan children this because of the way they treat Hester and Pearl. The children do not respect Hester or Pearl at all. They do this because they are mirroring their parents actions. The children think that they are better than Hester simply because they have been taught that no mistakes are tolerable.
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Gracie Davenport
7/25/2018 03:58:58 pm
1. The Puritan children were raised to treat Hester and Pearl as outcasts. Young children believe and repeat what is said and taught to them. They throw mud at and mock Hester and Pearl just because they truly believe that they are sinners and different from normal Puritans. Pearl is looked upon as a devil child.
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Mitchell Badurak
7/25/2018 05:03:24 pm
1. The children treat Pearl like garbage. They treat her like this because that is how they were taught to treat sinners. It's the society they grew up in that groomed them to behave this way.
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Tyler
7/31/2018 07:00:26 pm
I agree with your first point, the children were brought up to view sin and sinners as bad. It was no surprise that they treated Pearl the way that they did.
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Carmen DeStazio
7/26/2018 05:30:31 pm
Children have no filter when it comes to talking. They don’t know the difference between right and wrong when it comes to talking about people in public. They overhear their parents talking bad about Hester. Children also tend to repeat their parents. They repeat all the nasty stuff they say about Hester. They mock her and say awful things about her.
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Lauren Dossett
7/27/2018 12:10:41 pm
1. The children treat Pearl like an outcast just as their parents treat Hester. They don't know what Pearl or Hester did, but they figure that since their parents and the rest of society is treating them a certain way, they should treat them the same. That is just the way that children think. It's a "monkey see monkey do" world to children.
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Gabriela Patino
7/27/2018 10:07:16 pm
1. The Puritan children mentioned in the story were ugly and rude to Pearl. They treated her as if they were superior to her and she was on outcast. A child's beliefs and actions usually mirror that of their parents, since a parent is a child's main role model and guidance when growing up. These children may have overheard the terrible way their parents talked of Hester and Pearl, or saw how they acted toward them. This made it very hard on Pearl because she had to grow up with her only source of friendship being imaginary
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Emily Miller
7/29/2018 02:37:22 pm
I agree that Dimmesdale did not do what was expected of a Puritan leader because he chose the Heather's love for pearl over the child's religious education. I disagree that Dimmesdale is not an effective leader because he always has a compulsive way of teaching subjects.
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Emily Miller
7/29/2018 02:32:22 pm
1. Throughout the chapters there are references of pearl being the production of a sin and having a demonic presence. the towns children have seen how their parents treat Hester and Pearl therefore treating them poorly too.
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Beyla Bleichner
7/31/2018 05:30:42 pm
1. I agree. It's only natural for a child to follow his or her parent's opinion on matters. Especially matters they do not fully understand yet.
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Hallie Ladner
7/30/2018 02:13:46 pm
1.The people and children think and treat Pearl as a result of a sin. They treat her poorly such as throwing mud at her. I personally do not think the kids who do this to her even understand what actually happened or what is going on. I think they just hear the parents talk about it and see the parents expression to Pearl so they act on what the parents are saying.
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Micah Webb
7/30/2018 03:54:37 pm
1. The children treat Pearl with disrespect because of how she was conceived. Pearl, as well has her mother, are perceived as outcasts and have even had mud flung at them. The community is disgusted with Hester's crime and it is no surprise that the opinions of parents would be passed down to their children.
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Misty Wilson
7/31/2018 11:49:30 am
1. The children treated Pearl unfairly. They were always saying unkind things , treating her as an outcast , and flinging mud at her. It was ever that way with her mother and often the parents thoughts were past on to their children . 2. It was unexpected that Dimmesdale would side with Hester because most ministers would be upset with Pearls lack of religious knowledge .
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Makenzie Stenum
7/31/2018 03:22:11 pm
1. The Puritan children treat Pearl in ways that are not suitable because she is said to be born of a sin. The children do so by throwing mud at her and bullying her. The children do this to show their disapproval of Pearl. This judgement has been taught to them by their parents.
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Beyla Bleichner
7/31/2018 05:27:17 pm
1. Pearl is treated as a disease. She is contagious and dangerous. Even though she is a mischievous child, she is still a child and does not deserve to be shunned just because how she came to be. The children are mean to her most likely because of their parents. Children absorb information especially from their homes. It's only natural that they would act like their parents.
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Tyler
7/31/2018 06:58:32 pm
1) The children shun Pearl and hurl insults at her anytime they see her. The only reason they do this is because they hear the adults talking and know that Pearl is not like the rest of them.
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Alaina Olsen
8/1/2018 11:44:31 am
1. Hawthorne calls the Puritan children heartless because they throw things at her and treat her as though she is dirt. They wouldn't want to be treated that way, but the children's parents are their biggest influences, and because of the way Hester, her mother, was looked at, they are brainwashed into thinking the two of them are awful. It happens today in political followings and religious practicing.
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