人性的隱喻
———《珍珠》賞析

文/王希茜

人性的隱喻
———《珍珠》賞析

文/王希茜

◆原作節(jié)選◆

Before Kino and Juana and the other fishers had come to Kino’s brush house,the nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating with the news—KinohadfoundthePearloftheWorld.Before panting little boys could strangle out the words,their mothers knew it.The news swept on past the brush houses,and it washed in a foaming wave into the town of stone and plaster.It came to the priest walking in his garden,and it put a thoughtful look inhiseyesandamemoryofcertainrepairs necessary to the church.He wondered what the pearl would be worth.And he wondered whether he had baptizedKino’sbaby,ormarriedhimforthat matter.The news came to the shopkeepers,and they looked at men’s clothes that had not sold so well.

The news came to the doctor where he sat with a woman whose illness was age,though neither she nor the doctor would admit it.And when it was made plain who Kino was,the doctor grew stern and judicious at the same time.“He is a client of mine,”the doctor said.“I am treating his child for a scorpion sting.”And the doctor’s eyes rolled up a little in their fat hammocks and he thought of Paris.He remembered the room he had lived in there as a great and luxurious place,and he remembered the hard-faced womanwho hadlivedwithhim as a beautiful and kind girl,although she had been none ofthesethree.Thedoctorlookedpasthisaged patient and saw himself sitting in a restaurant in Paris and a waiter was just opening a bottle of wine.

The news came early to the beggars in front of the church,and it made them giggle a little with pleasure,for they knew that there is no almsgiver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky.

Kino has found the Pearl of the World.In the town,in little offices,sat the men who bought pearls from the fishers.They waited in their chairs until the pearls came in,and then they cackled and fought and shouted and threatened until they reached the lowest price the fisherman would stand.But there was a price below which they dared not go,for it had happened that a fisherman in despair had given his pearls to the church.And when the buying was over,these buyers sat alone and their fingers played restlesslywiththepearls,andtheywishedthey owned the pearls.For there were not many buyers really—there was only one,and he kept these agents inseparateofficestogiveasemblanceof competition.The news came to these men,and their eyes squinted and their fingertips burned a little,and each one thought how the patron could not live forever and someone had to take his place.And each one thought how with some capital he could get a new start.

Allmannerofpeoplegrewinterestedin Kino—peoplewiththingstosellandpeoplewith favors to ask.Kino had found the Pearl of the World.The essence of pearl mixed with essence of men and a curious dark residue was precipitated.Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl,and Kino’s pearlwentintothedreams,thespeculations,the schemes,the plans,the futures,the wishes,the needs,the lusts,the hungers,of everyone,andonly one person stood in the way and that was Kino,so that he became curiously every man’s enemy.The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town;the black distillate was like the scorpion,or like hunger in the smell of food,or like loneliness when love is withheld.The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom,and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it.

在奇諾、胡安娜和別的漁民還沒有來到奇諾的茅屋以前，整個城鎮(zhèn)的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)已經(jīng)隨著這消息在跳動和震顫了——奇諾找到了“稀世寶珠”。在氣喘吁吁的小男孩們還來不及講完之前，他們的母親已經(jīng)知道了。這消息越過那些茅屋繼續(xù)向前沖去，在一陣浪花飛濺的波濤中沖進石頭與灰泥的城市。它傳到正在花園里散步的神父那里，使他的眼中出現(xiàn)一種若有所思的神情，使他想起教堂里必須進行的一些修葺。他不曉得那顆珍珠會值多少錢。他也不曉得有沒有給奇諾的孩子施過洗，或者有沒有給奇諾司過婚。這消息傳到開鋪子的人那里，他們便看看那些銷路不大好的男人衣服。

這消息傳到大夫那里，他正和一個太太坐著，這女人的病就是年老，雖然她本人和大夫都不肯承認這個事實。等他弄明白奇諾是誰以后，大夫就變得既嚴肅又懂事了?！八俏业念櫩停贝蠓蛘f，“我正在給他的孩子治被蝎子蜇的傷。”大夫的眼睛在它們肥胖的窩里向上翻著。他想起了巴黎。在他的回憶中，他在那里住過的屋子成了一個宏大奢華的地方，跟他同居過的面貌難看的女人成了一個又美麗又體貼的少女，盡管她完全不是那么回事。大夫的眼光越過他那年老的病人，看到自己坐在巴黎的一家餐館里，一個侍者正在打開一瓶酒。

這消息一早就傳到教堂前面的乞丐們那里，使他們高興得吃吃地笑了一陣，因為他們知道，世界上沒有比一個突然走運的窮人更大方的施舍者了。

奇諾找到了“稀世寶珠”。在城里，在一些小鋪子里，坐著那些向漁夫收買珍珠的人。他們在椅子上坐著等待珍珠送進來，然后開始嘮叨、爭吵、叫嚷、威脅，直到他們達到漁夫肯接受的最低價的目的為止?？墒撬麄儦r也不敢超過一個限度，因為曾經(jīng)有一個漁夫由于絕望，把他的珍珠送給了教會。買完珍珠之后，這些收買人獨自坐著，他們的手指不停地玩弄著珍珠。他們希望這些珍珠歸他們所有。因為實際上并沒有許多買主——只有一個買主，而他把這些代理人安置在分開的鋪子里，造成一種互相競爭的假象。消息傳到這些人那里，于是他們的眼睛瞇了起來，指尖也有一點發(fā)癢，同時每人都想到那大老板不能永遠活著，一定得有人接替他。每個人也都想到他只要有點本錢就可以有一個新的開端。

各式各樣的人都對奇諾發(fā)生了興趣——有東西要買的人以及有人情要央求的人。奇諾找到了“稀世寶珠”。珍珠的要素和人的要素一混合，一種奇怪的黑渣滓便沉淀了下來。每個人都突然跟奇諾的珍珠發(fā)生了關系，奇諾的珍珠也進入每個人的夢想、思索、企圖、計劃、前途、希望、需要、欲念、饑渴。只有一個人妨礙著大家，那個人就是奇諾，因此他莫名其妙地變成了每個人的敵人。那消息攪動了城里的一種無比骯臟、無比邪惡的東西；黑色的蒸餾液好像一只蝎子，或者像食物的香味所引起的食欲，或者像失戀時感到的寂寞。這個城的毒囊開始分泌毒液，城市便隨著它的壓力腫脹起來了。

1.vibrate v.顫動2.priest n.神父3.baptize v.給……施洗禮

4.stern adj.堅定的5.judicious adj.明智的6.scorpion n.蝎子

7.almsgiver n.救濟者8.threaten v.威脅9.semblance n.假象

10.squint v.瞇眼看11.patron n.老板12.residue n.殘渣

13.precipitate v.使沉淀14.lust n.欲望15.distillate n.蒸餾物

16.sac n.囊17.venom n.毒液18.swell v.膨脹

Tips for learning

1.giggle...with pleasure：這里的with表示原因或起因。由于某種感情而使某人有某種表現(xiàn)或行為。如：1）Gil was white and trembling with anger.2）He screamed with pain.

2.grew stern and judicious/interested in：這里的grew（動詞原形為grow）用作系動詞，意思與become接近，表示某人或某物逐漸變化至某種狀態(tài)。通常用來描述感覺、態(tài)度或品質(zhì)。例如文中聽說奇諾采得稀世珍珠后，醫(yī)生面部表情的變化和其他人態(tài)度上的轉(zhuǎn)變都是由grow一詞描述的。再舉一列：I grew a little afraid of the man next door after the quarrel.

◆賞析◆

短篇小說《珍珠》（The Pearl）是美國作家約翰·斯坦貝克（John Steinbeck）的作品。1962年斯坦貝克獲得諾貝爾文學獎。其代表作包括《人鼠之間》（Of Mice and Men）和曾經(jīng)獲得普利策獎的《憤怒的葡萄》（The Grapes of Wrath）。他的作品多描寫下層社會為生活掙扎的小人物，且故事來自于真實存在的歷史環(huán)境和事件。1940年，斯坦貝克在盛產(chǎn)珍珠的墨西哥拉巴斯地區(qū)旅行，在那里聽到了當?shù)乜诳谙鄠鞯拿耖g故事，獲得靈感。1948年，講述潛水采珠人奇諾（Kino）傳奇故事的《珍珠》一書出版。該書又被稱作寓言小說，探討了人性、貪婪和邪惡等主題，成為斯坦貝克筆下最受歡迎的故事之一，并在美國、加拿大的中學課堂被廣泛使用。

這個簡單的故事開始于日出，結(jié)束于黃昏。男主人公奇諾是一名墨西哥印第安人，是潛水采珍珠的漁民。他和妻子胡安娜（Juana）以及幾個月大的兒子小狗子（Coyotito）生活在漁村簡陋的柴屋里。雖然生活貧苦，但一家人和睦安詳。然而就在一天早上發(fā)生了不幸，小狗子被毒蝎子蜇傷了。夫妻倆帶著兒子到鎮(zhèn)上向生活富裕卻世故的西班牙裔白人醫(yī)生求醫(yī)，因無法支付昂貴的醫(yī)藥費被拒之門外。求醫(yī)不成，憤怒的奇諾回到漁村。夫妻倆劃船出海，潛水尋找珍珠。不知是天意還是胡安娜的祈禱靈驗了，奇諾竟找到一顆巨大無比的稀世珍珠。平靜的生活從此被打破了。這顆珍珠不僅給原本生活樸素、單純的夫妻帶來了無窮的希望與遐想，更勾起了各式各樣的人的種種邪念與垂涎。

本期節(jié)選的是小說第三章的部分內(nèi)容。文章描述的是在奇諾和胡安娜意外采得稀世珍珠后，人還沒到家，消息便已迅速在漁村和小鎮(zhèn)中傳播開來。教堂的神父開始“若有所思”地考慮如何與奇諾一家攀上關系，從中獲益；當初不愿意出診的醫(yī)生忽然變得“既嚴肅又懂事”，口口聲稱“他是我的顧客”，甚至不請自來；乞丐們歡天喜地，期待著即將成為巨富的奇諾能夠慷慨施舍；而珍珠商們則“瞇起了眼睛”，尋思著如何好好賺他一筆。那顆珍珠象征著巨大的財富，更是反映人性美丑的一面鏡子，攪動了人性中“無比骯臟、無比邪惡的東西”。在某種程度上，它與那只毒蝎子一樣，給奇諾一家?guī)砹藶碾y。

故事最終以小狗子被槍殺、珍珠被奇諾夫婦遺棄在大海而告終。曾給貧窮的奇諾帶來無限期盼的珍珠，留下的不過是一段悲憤的回憶，仿佛老天爺給他們開了一個殘酷的玩笑。整部小說沒有跌宕起伏的情感糾葛，也沒有宏大的敘事背景。斯坦貝克筆下的語言看似平淡，讀來卻驚心動魄，貫穿始終的隱喻使故事充滿力量。令所有人著迷甚至瘋狂的珍珠到底是純潔的還是罪惡的，人性的本質(zhì)究竟是淳樸善良的還是貪婪邪惡的，你是否愿意為改變命運的機遇作出犧牲與冒險，又是否遭遇過“福兮禍所伏”的人生際遇，《珍珠》為讀者提供了廣闊的想象空間，使得不同的人在閱讀時會作出截然不同的解讀。一如作者在小說的開篇寫道：“如果這個故事是個寓言，也許每個人都能從里面領會到他自己的意義，用自己的生活體驗去讀它?！保↖fthisstoryisaparable,perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it.）

李丁文