The Music of the Pearl
Written by Susanna Parent
Back in high school, when movie nights were the norm, I remember watching scary movies with my friends. These movies usually needed to be followed up with a light-hearted chick flick or comedy. This helped to divert my mind away from all the dark heaviness of horror and, in turn, fill it with brighter colors and laughter.
I had the same inclination after reading John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. The closing of the book left me with a burning image seared into my memory, of “a small limp heavy bundle” that was “crusted with dried blood.” I found myself wishing I was one of the young children in the city, whose faces were turned inward against their mothers’ skirts to prevent them from seeing such a scarring sight. I wanted to unsee it. To unhear the hysterical cries and moans of Juana at the murder of her baby Coyotito.
I finished the book and asked the question, why?
Why couldn’t they have surrendered the pearl to the trackers when they saw them coming? They could have just tossed them the pearl, flown their white flag, and pursued a more normal life.
Yet they were in too deep. Kino had not only ruffled feathers back in his city, but his pride would not let him return to his old life empty-handed. That is, unless something grave left him empty-handed and the only way he could survive was to humbly carry “towers of darkness” back home. Not ahead of his wife but by her side.
Greed got in the way. The pearl was to Kino what the ring was to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. He takes possession of it, craves holding it, and doesn’t possess the strength to let it go on his own. After he finds it, Kino “carried the pearl still in his hand, tightly closed in his palm, and it was warm and smooth against his skin.” But Juana sees it for what it is and recognizes the pearl as evil: “This pearl is like a sin! It will destroy us.”
And it did.
While this book left me disturbed, the heaviness of the book and the heaviness of this pearl, reminded me of the weight of sin. It prompted me to look at myself more closely and consider what “pearls” I have “tightly closed” in my palm. What pearls feel “warm and smooth” against my skin but ultimately destroy my soul? Safeguarding my “me” time is often tightly clenched in my hands. “My time” to talk with a friend on the phone, when my kids really need me to talk with them. “My time” to zone out on the couch skimming articles, when my children need me not just to skim their faces. To be clear, I think it is good to have time for myself throughout the day. But The Pearl reminded me there is danger in holding too tightly to this time, for example, when I may be called to surrender it and love those God has entrusted to my care. Thankfully, there is grace for that.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us of the grace we possess through Baptism. “Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal” (1262). The last page of The Pearl offers us an image of this idea: “Kino drew back his arm and flung the pearl with all his might . . . the pearl lay on the floor of the sea . . . And the music of the pearl drifted to a whisper and disappeared.”
Through our Baptism and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we, too, can quiet the whispering of the evil one’s sneers. We are equipped to turn off “the music of the pearl” because Christ is there to silence the evil one and his allures and to erase our sin through His purification, just as the ocean’s sand erased the pearl.
About Susanna Parent
Susanna Parent is a wife, mother, and writer who lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and children. Her mornings begin with brewing French press coffee and snuggling up with her children on the couch to read (while trying not to spill her coffee). Her published work can be found at fiatandalily.blogpost.com.
About Well-Read Mom
In Well-Read Mom, women read more and read well. Our hope is to deepen the awareness of meaning hidden in each woman’s daily life, elevate the cultural conversation, and revitalize reading literature from books. If you would like to have us help you select worthy reading material, we invite you to join and read along with us. We are better together! For information on how to start or join a Well-Read Mom group visit our website wellreadmom.com.
