Yet through all her troubles, she has received a great gift, her daughter Pearl. Pearl gives Hester the strength to survive through her conviction and persecution. Similarly the rose-bush outside the prison gives hope to the prisoners. The rose-bush is a positive image for those who have been persecuted. It is a symbol of survival for Hester who has endured imprisonment and then continues to live in Boston rather than escaping to some distant location. .
Pearl is directly linked to the symbol of the rose in chapter eight. Hester and Pearl meet with Mr. Wilson, a Puritan minister in Boston, in an attempt to convince the Puritan authorities not to take Pearl away from Hester. Here Mr. Wilson refers to Pearl as a "Red Rose- (101) when he sees her. In the same chapter, Pearl herself makes mention of the rose-bush outside the prison door. Mr. Wilson begins to question Pearl about how she has been made. In response to his questioning, "the child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison-door- (103). The narrator then states, "This fantasy was probably suggested by the near proximity of the Governor's red roses, as Pearl stood outside of the window, together with her recollection of the prison rose-bush, which she had passed in coming hither- (103). Here Pearl compares herself with the roses on the bush outside the prison door. Essentially, Pearl is a gem to Hester; her value is clear throughout the novel. In the same chapter, Hester proclaims to Mr. Wilson, "God gave me the child! He gave her, in requital of all things else, which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness! "she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me, too- (103-104). Hester explains how Pearl has been both a blessing and a burden. Pearl makes Hester strong and gives her the will to live in a society where she is shunned by all.
