The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Symbolism.

She's Worth More Than a Diamond
Pearls have always held a great price to mankind, but no pearl had ever been earned at as high a cost to a person as Hester Prynne, a powerful heroine in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter. Pearl, born into a Puritan prison in more ways than one, is a mysterious character serving entirely as a vehicle for symbolism.
From her introduction as an infant on her mother's scaffold of shame to the peak of the story, Pearl is a caring and intelligent child. Throughout the story she finds the hidden emotions of her mother and magnifies them for all to…