chapter 22
"The Puritans looked on, and, if they smiled, were none the less inclined to pronounce the child a demon offspring, from the indescribable charm of beauty and eccentricity that shone through her little figure, and sparkled with its activity."
the puritans like Pearl only aesthetically, they think she is a "monster" anyway. They are just attracted from her outside beauty (symptom of being superificial: they don't know the real pearl and why and how she acts towards specific things)
"She ran and looked the wild Indian in the face, and he grew conscious of a nature wilder than his own. Thence, with native audacity, but still with a reserve as characteristic, she flew into the midst of a group of mariners, the swarthy-cheeked wild men of the ocean, as the Indians were of the land; and they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at Pearl, as if a flake of the sea-foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted with a soul of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the night-time."
all the outsiders instead recognize the value of Pearl, they appreciate her, because, not vitiated by the society, have objectivity to judge. Besides that, the comparison with the nature make us see her as result of the perfect nature (N.H.'s view).
Good. I like your idea about the society being superficial because they see Pearl only aesthetically, and Hawthorne's view of Pearl. I think you're right on both accounts. Theme: Nature vs. Society.
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