In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl are two essential characters. Because they are father and daughter, they have some similar qualities, but also some different ones. The apple does not fall far from the tree: the apple is the child of the tree (the parent); therefore, it inherits similarities in personality, but it also retains its own individual qualities. Dimmesdale and Pearl share few similar traits, but Hawthorne makes …showed first 75 words of 823 total…

…showed last 75 words of 823 total…represent those of most parents and their children. Pearl and Dimmesdale show that two people, bound by blood relation, usually share similar qualities, but each can also have his or her own intrinsic qualities that the other lacks. In the harsh Puritan society of the early 1600s, most parents would not allow their apples (their children) to fall far from the tree, but Pearl is an example of an apple that fell farther than most.