The Pink Ribbons - Essay Example

Following the above argument, the ribbons at one point or the other point to Faith’s femininity, but this idea is then taken over by the concept of innocent. One such case in which femininity is suggested by the pink ribbons is in the fourth paragraph of the story, where Faith says, “Then God bless you.” (Hawthorne 2). The succeeding events are those of Faith peeping at Goodman and her ribbons still showing. Following this, the ribbons signify the fact that she is feminine and that is part of the aspects that draw Goodman towards her and is again applied to draw her character and put it into a realistic form factor.

This is such that the ribbons on Faith’s cap are pink, and this can be looked at the purity of the color, which is non-existent. For pink to be made existent, there is a need to mix red and white, which in this case draws out quite a scoop in building Faith’s character, especially considering the independent meanings of the two constituent colors. Pink is made of white, which is used to symbolize purity and innocence as is the case of Goodman calling her a blessed angel, while a red represents a totally different feature.

Red signifies prostitution and blood, which in this case when put together to create the color pink indicates the different faces or characters of Faith. The character is in that the ribbons stand for the young stages of life that Faith is at and the youthful and angelic innocence she bears, according to Goodman. It however goes on to symbolize the aspects of an unlived life that can only be achieved when Faith becomes of age and matures to see the world for what it is rather than living a sheltered life.

Goodman brings out this symbolism in that he is of the opinion that in spite of all the sin in the world, only he and Faith are exempt from all the evil around them, which unlike earlier, he would like to preserve her innocence. At one point, Goodman accepts to being sinful and attempts to shield Faith from losing her innocence, where Goodman views her as a steadfast anchor against sin. To further indicate Faith’s purity, the ribbons are read as having fallen and Goodman picking them up after they come off her cap.

Goodman takes them as a sign of Faith having fallen from the glory of God and that her innocence is breached. As a result, the ribbons strongly represent innocence and purity of Faith’s character in that when they fall off her cap Goodman screams, “My Faith is gone!”, which then indicates the value attached to the ribbons by Goodman as a symbol of Faith’s state of being innocent and youthfully pure (Hawthorne 9). Altogether, symbolism in relation to the pink ribbons that are repeatedly mentioned and referred to in the story is used to depict a number of