" "Wilt thou tell her this, thou witch-baby?"
"Mistress Hibbins says my father is the Prince of the Air!" cried Pearl, with a naughty smile. "If thou callest me that ill-name, I shall tell him of thee, and he will chase thy ship with a tempest!" " - Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter - Chapter 22
Wow…talk about an interesting response for a child to give to someone that has just insulted her! Even thinking about the look on her face when she responds kind of gives me a demonic picture and a chill down my spine!
Pearl certainly seems to have a lot of confidence in her persona, especially with all of the rumors and insult that have followed her mother and her for the past so many years. Could this be, perhaps, as a result of her "fairy-like" behavior, and her free will that leads to overconfidence?
Why shouldn't Pearl have a confident persona? She and her mother were left to fend for themselves among a town full of strict, judgemental Puritans that were of no use to them. Pearl was not raised like the other weird little Puritan children, she was her "own" person, whether fairy-like or demon-like, she was Pearl.