scarlet letter rosebush?

Puritan society is harsh and unforgiving, sternly moralistic, not heedful of beauty for its own sake or for any purpose, really. Nature, however, is not so. It is kinder. Moreover, all the Puritan attempts to bend nature to its will cannot stop a rose from growing even where it might least be wanted: outside a prison. It is an instance of ironic sweetness and a reminder that the world is larger than the ideas of men who think they control it.