The Scarlet Letter: Chapter 6
The color-coded bars in this section make it easy to track the themes throughout the work. Each color corresponds to one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this LitChart. For instance, 
indicates that all five themes apply to that part of the summary.
| Summary | Analysis | Themes |
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The narrator describes Pearl as the human manifestation of Hester’s sin: Pearl is filled with a sense of defiance and deviance, and does not fit in among the other children of the community. |
Hester has passed on her own defiant “sinful” spirit to her daughter. Pearl is an individual, not a Puritan conformer. |
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Like Hester, Pearl is painfully aware of her isolation. She has an innate sense that Hester’s scarlet letter is linked to their rejection by society. She pleads with her mother to explain the letter’s origin. |
Pearl’s obsession with the letter makes Hester think Pearl is possessed. But it’s the secret surrounding the sin that obsesses Pearl . |
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The townspeople consider Pearl the physical embodiment of sin, an “imp of evil.” |
The Puritans condemn Pearl, an innocent child. |
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