"'Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you!'" Pg. 103
Throughout the first half of this novel, I noticed the use of apostrophe and how it is connected closely with the strict morality in which the Puritan town believes in. Just as the townspeople and, shown here, Pearl think of the devil as an actual being and describe him as such, so does Hester view herself with her own-self condemnation and harshness. The interesting part of the use of apostrophe to advance the plot in novels like this is that the entity being described is neither present nor can ever be seen. However, this same entity has almost supreme control and power over the many characters of the book. Hester believe that because of her sin that Pearl is the devil incarnate in her own daughter. She sees her as her ever-constant reminder of the transgressions which have put her in this situation. In a sense, the way she views the devil and her sins in her own daughter closely parallels the actual sins themselves. They are not physical beings that can be seen or felt. They can be described and obviously condemned, but ultimately the sin is between the character, the co-sinner, and a divine being like God, or in this case, the devil.
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