Burrs on a Letter

The passage on page 117 begins with "she now skipped irrelevantly from one grave to another" and ends with "Hester did not pluck them off."

This passage to me resembles so much. First it shows the developing and sacred relationship not only between mother and daughter but between daughter and sin. Hester and Pearl have a unique relationship, not only forming from sin but simply as mother and daughter. The two are almost best friends, seeing as the other one is the only one the other has. Hester depends on Pearl as a savior (though she may not know it totally) and Pearl not only depends on Hester as a mother, but also a guardian from the sin that she is. (that doesn't really make sense). Hester, though curious about her daughter excepts her strange aptitudes of understanding almost everything. Pearl seems to respect her mother for this, simply going on as what she knows as being an "ordinary" child. In everyone's eyes (especially Hester's) Pearl is a strange child, dressed in scarlet, a replica of the letter, a production of sin.
Secondly, the passage addresses all that relate to Hester: her daughter and her letter (that are both her sin). As Pearl skips merrily around the graveyard (ironic, happy in such a dark place) Hester can only demand she stop. Although, before her complete termination of joy, Pearl plucks burrs from a thistle and places them delicately along the edges of the scarlet letter. This image represents the comfort Pearl has with the letter, maybe knowing that it is indeed a part of her. As her mother would adorn a pair of gloves (or the letter itself) Pearl takes on in decorating the sin in thorns that sear into Hester's bosom.