Pearl's Childhood Dreams

[MHarrisEP]

Hello,

For my English class, we are to do a presentation on six of Pearl's childhood dreams.

As far as this goes, I'm at a total loss. Could anyone provide some insight on to what some of Pearl's childhood dreams are?

[Wilde woman]

Pearl had dreams? I don't believe we ever get any dream sequences from Pearl in the novel; in fact, we never even get first-person narration from her.

Perhaps your teacher is talking not literally about night-time dreams, but about Pearl's hopes and aspirations? But then I have no idea why the particular number six comes in. Perhaps you're supposed to make up dreams Pearl could've had based on what you know about her character?

Could you explain your question in more detail?

[MHarrisEP]

Oh, yes, sorry.

He did mean aspiration.

I'm just confused as to what they are. Were any mentioned in the book?

The assignment was to just find six of Pearl's childhood dreams, so, some things she wanted to do as she got older.

I'm beginning to think perhaps we are supposed to comprehend her personality and come up with these on our own and provide support as to why we think they would be her dreams.

So, perhaps someone could help me with that? Providing insight into what type of things Pearl enjoyed doing or how she behaved in the book?

[Wilde woman]

Hmmm, I'm not sure but here's a nice little character analysis of Pearl to jump-start your brainstorming:

http://www.shmoop.com/character/literature/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-scarlet-letter/pearl.html

Also, keep in mind that Pearl seems to have supernatural qualities. Hawthorne is always comparing her to fairies and angels. She's also the character most in tune with nature. So perhaps that'll give you some ideas...

Good luck!