36 pages • 1 hour read
Scott O'DellThe Black Pearl
Fiction | Novella | Middle Grade | Published in 1967A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Ramón Salazar is a 16-year-old boy who lives in the town of La Paz in Baja California along the coast of the Vermilion Sea. He directly addresses the reader and states that he is the only living person who has seen the Manta Diablo—a monstrous ray his mother used to threaten him with if he was naughty. The Manta Diablo is a well-known myth in the area; old men tell stories about having seen it, and Ramón’s grandfather, who was the most educated person in their town, claimed that he had seen the Manta Diablo numerous times. Father Linares is the priest who exorcized the Manta Diablo from the earth and into the sea over a hundred years ago. At the time, the Manta Diablo withered crops and sickened the air; when it went into the water, it became beautiful but no less evil. Ramón’s experience with Manta Diablo begins with the history of the “Pearl of Heaven,” which he now enters into.Ramón Salazar is a 16-year-old boy who lives in the town of La Paz in Baja California along the coast of the Vermilion Sea. He directly addresses the reader and states that he is the only living person who has seen the Manta Diablo—a monstrous ray his mother used to threaten him with if he was naughty. The Manta Diablo is a well-known myth in the area; old men tell stories about having seen it, and Ramón’s grandfather, who was the most educated person in their town, claimed that he had seen the Manta Diablo numerous times. Father Linares is the priest who exorcized the Manta Diablo from the earth and into the sea over a hundred years ago. At the time, the Manta Diablo withered crops and sickened the air; when it went into the water, it became beautiful but no less evil. Ramón’s experience with Manta Diablo begins with the history of the “Pearl of Heaven,” which he now enters into.
Chapter 2 Summary
Ramón’s story begins the previous July with his father Blas making him a partner in his business. Blas Salazar is a famous pearl dealer known for finding the finest pearls in the Vermilion Sea. At Ramón’s birthday party, he presents his son with a plaque that says: “SALAZAR AND SON,” under which in “small letters [is] the word Pearls” (10). After, Blas takes Ramón to his office, where he promises to teach him how to accurately use the scales to measure a pearl’s weight, understand the meaning of a pearl’s shape, and tell if a pearl is of good quality. Ramón is excited about beginning his education but also worried.
By August, Ramón is eager to sail with the fleet’s five ships. His father enters while he is weighing pearls; they discuss a pearl’s value, both agreeing that it holds a muddy streak that cannot be removed. When Ramón asks his father to sail with him, Blas responds with the numerous ways that Ramón might be hurt or die, thus bringing an end to the family business. After each response, Ramón offers a rebuttal, ending with a promise to bring his grandfather’s sharp knife and to stay on the deck while the others dive. Blas agrees. Before leaving to sail, they go to the church, where the priest blesses them. Blas makes the decision not to tell his wife directly about Ramón joining him on the expedition, instead sending another boy off with the message.
Chapter 3 Summary
The Salazar fleet is made up of five blue boats the color of the sea; each carries four to five men. One of these men is Gaspar Ruiz, otherwise known as “the Sevillano”—a handsome man whom many consider to be the best pearl diver around. Ramón recalls how Ruiz can easily hold his breath for three minutes. Ruiz is a braggart and has depictions of his many triumphs tattooed over his body, including his victories over an octopus, a bull, and a mountain lion. Once, when Ramón jokingly questioned the truth of Ruiz’s stories, he got angry and berated him: “You are the son of a rich man and you live in a big house and you eat good food and all of your life you have done little. Nor will you ever do more” (20). Ramón was tempted to fight Ruiz but decided to ignore him instead so as not to disgrace his father.
After Ramón becomes a partner in the business, he continues to ignore Ruiz, not rising to the bait when Ruiz tries to goad him into an argument. When they begin diving, Ramón is responsible for pulling the basket of shells up, along with the sink stones that the divers use to anchor themselves to the ocean floor; Ruiz mocks Ramón for not diving repeatedly throughout the day. On their way back to La Paz that night, Ruiz continues a tale about finding a valuable pearl. As the Sevillano speaks, Ramón fantasizes about diving in a secret lagoon and finding a giant pearl. Someone then sees a swimming shape in the water and calls it the Manta Diablo. The Sevillano agrees in order to scare his indigenous helper, but Blas says that it is not remotely close to the size of the monster. As they get close to the town, Blas warns Ramón to treat Ruiz with courtesy and pretend to believe his stories; Ruiz has never been to Seville and has never left the Vermilion coast, but he has been in many fights, one of which led to the death of his opponent.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
The first section of Scott O’Dell’s The Black Pearl begins like a tale born out of the oral tradition—tales that are passed down from generation to generation not in the form of books but through verbally relayed tales. The story of the Manta Diablo is itself a legend that has been passed down in this way, as “[o]ld men around the fires at night tell their grandsons of the meetings they have had with him” (8). Through the novel’s narration and Ramón’s first-person perspective, the reader becomes another receiver of the story—the next-in-line to learn the tale of the Manta Diablo. Ramón directly addresses the reader numerous times, further contributing to the story’s spoken-word feel.
This oral tradition also reflects a hierarchy of power and age that will continue to play out over the course of the novel. The storyteller—be it Ramón, Ruiz, or the old men of the town—is in a position of power as they relay their tales to the receivers of knowledge, who frequently belong to a younger generation. This hierarchy of power is notably patriarchal; only grandsons learn of the Manta Diablo from the old men, just as Ramón is to learn the tricks of the pearl trade from his father. Blas says to Ramón at the beginning of his lessons, “Then, by the time you are as old as I am, you will be the best pearl dealer in all of our country and you can teach your son everything I have taught you” (11). This patriarchal transmission of knowledge mirrors a patriarchal transmission of wealth; only a son is worthy of carrying the weight and responsibilities of the family business, as its very name (“Salazar and Son”) implies. Ramón represents the new generation of Salazars and thus the future of the family. It is the main reason that Blas is initially uncomfortable with the idea of allowing Ramón to sail. He fears that the Salazar name would be wiped out should something happen while “all the male members of the Salazar family [are] on the sea at once” (14).
Scott O’Dell continues to explore this theme of patriarchal hierarchy, and the consequences that occur when characters deviate from it, throughout the rest of the novel. The first conflict of the novel, for example, occurs when Ramón “question[s] [Ruiz] in fun about one of these tales that [Ramón] [knows] to be a lie” (20). Ruiz’s reaction to Ramón is to put him in his place as a passive receiver-of-knowledge who does not talk back or question what he is told. Ruiz also mocks Ramón for his weakness, his appearance, and his ethnic makeup. Even Blas, the owner of the business, does not stand up for his son. In doing so, Blas would upend the hierarchy of male power and tradition, which is based not only on physical strength but also on age. Instead, Blas tells Ramón to “[t]reat [Ruiz] with courtesy” (25). Blas’s warning is an attempt to keep up the façade of the hierarchy despite his own reservations about Ruiz.
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