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“The best way to learn to be an honest, responsible adult is to live with adults who act honestly and responsibly” (Jarrett Web). These words are announced by Claudia Jewett Jarrett, author of Adopting the Older Child. She is a popular author of books about how to raise difficult children. This quote connotes that children that do not develop with honest and responsible adults will likely not grow up to be honest and responsible themselves. Comparable issues are discussed in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne employs the character of Pearl to illustrate someone who does not possess an honest adult in her life. In the novel, an adulterous woman named Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest. Her daughter, Pearl, possesses a strange personality and some people call her a demon-child. How can living without a father affect a child? Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates in his novel, The Scarlet Letter that a father is necessary for a child to succeed in society because a father will strengthen longstanding relationships and prevent criminal activity.
Firstly, Hawthorne says that a father is necessary for children in society because possessing a father will build lasting relationships. Because of this, a child without a father will often be shunned by many people in society. In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is cast away from all the other children. Pearl is the daughter of the adulterous Hester Prynne, and her father has not yet been identified. She does not play with the other children because she is “born an outcast from that world” (Hawthorne 145). However, if Pearl had possessed a legitimate father, she likely would have had a different experience with the other children. Her lack of a father has reduced her to an alien in society. Such an experience is common among fatherless children. A study by MacArthur research networks “find[s] that children...apart from their...fathers [tend to graduate high school less]...than children ...with both...parents” (McLanahan 5). Around the world today, success is used to calculate the value of a person, and society will alienate a person if that person is homeless or needy. Fatherless children will struggle to develop relationships because their parents will spend less time with them. According to the Journal of Research on Adolescence, fatherless children will have less adult supervision. The authors have found that their “research has shown that they receive less supervision...than children living in two-parent homes” (Harper 4). When children do not communicate or develop a relationship with their parents, they will struggle to develop one with anyone else. Kids need to have parents to guide them, especially at a young age. Parents can help a child create relationships and an absent father will be detrimental to this crucial skill. Within the novel, Hester is afraid to leave Pearl alone (Hawthorne 133). This leads to a lack of sleep for Hester. If Pearl had an active father, he could have watched over Pearl while Hester sleeps. Hawthorne simply explains that fatherhood leads to permanent interactions among children.
On the other hand, Hawthorne claims that a father is necessary because a father will prevent his child from getting in trouble with the law. Children without fathers will tend to become criminals. In the novel, Pearl is disobedient to her mother. When “her mother kept beckoning to her,... the child stamped her foot with an even more demanding... gesture.” Pearl is not in legal trouble at this young point in her life, but jail could likely come later if she keeps this attitude. Children without fathers are poor followers of the law. It may begin with disobeying a mother, but when they are older they might disobey police officers. Additional research has proven that child delinquency is related to a lack of a father. “Research shows a link between father absence and delinquency or crime, both official and unofficial” (McLanahan 4) The world today severely needs fathers. Also, children without active fathers tend to be uncontrollable to their mother. For example, in the novel, Hester and Pearl are at the governor’s house. “Upon seeing the rose bushes, Pearl demanded a rose [and would not be quieted]” (Hawthorne 167). Young Pearl is obnoxious and uncontrollable to her mother. If Pearl had an active father, that father would be able to discipline her and control her. A respected research group finds that fatherless children are uncontrollable in a different way. Patricia Draper, author of “Father Absence and Reproductive Strategy,” writes that “females [without fathers] will engage in sexual activity earlier” (Draper 4). Parents generally do not like their children having sexual relations before they are old enough, but fatherless girls are more likely to. Fathers will help their child learn to live by the law, and sometimes a mother can struggle to do that on her own, as Nathaniel Hawthorne explains.
Through a positive influence, a father will lead his child to justice and relationships as the reader can see in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. Firstly, a father assists the child in building solid relationships. Also, fathers can both prevent alienation and supervise the young progeny. Young children possess a great need for fathers today. Fatherhood also keeps children on the correct side of the law. Children without fathers are far more likely to go to jail, as well as more likely to be uncontrollable and disobedient. Fatherlessness is affecting the crime scene of the modern era. People do not understand how important fathers are to society. A father produces great qualities in a child and prevents the awful qualities from surfacing. Fathers don’t get enough credit for what they do. In the words of Eucharista Ward, “As [children] grow up, they may look forward to maturity so they too can find such love” (Ward Web)
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