人性的隐喻———《珍珠》赏析

文/王希茜

人性的隐喻
———《珍珠》赏析

文/王希茜

◆原作节选◆

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.

在奇诺、胡安娜和别的渔民还没有来到奇诺的茅屋以前，整个城镇的神经系统已经随着这消息在跳动和震颤了——奇诺找到了“稀世宝珠”。在气喘吁吁的小男孩们还来不及讲完之前，他们的母亲已经知道了。这消息越过那些茅屋继续向前冲去，在一阵浪花飞溅的波涛中冲进石头与灰泥的城市。它传到正在花园里散步的神父那里，使他的眼中出现一种若有所思的神情，使他想起教堂里必须进行的一些修葺。他不晓得那颗珍珠会值多少钱。他也不晓得有没有给奇诺的孩子施过洗，或者有没有给奇诺司过婚。这消息传到开铺子的人那里，他们便看看那些销路不大好的男人衣服。

这消息传到大夫那里，他正和一个太太坐着，这女人的病就是年老，虽然她本人和大夫都不肯承认这个事实。等他弄明白奇诺是谁以后，大夫就变得既严肃又懂事了。“他是我的顾客，”大夫说，“我正在给他的孩子治被蝎子蜇的伤。”大夫的眼睛在它们肥胖的窝里向上翻着。他想起了巴黎。在他的回忆中，他在那里住过的屋子成了一个宏大奢华的地方，跟他同居过的面貌难看的女人成了一个又美丽又体贴的少女，尽管她完全不是那么回事。大夫的眼光越过他那年老的病人，看到自己坐在巴黎的一家餐馆里，一个侍者正在打开一瓶酒。

这消息一早就传到教堂前面的乞丐们那里，使他们高兴得吃吃地笑了一阵，因为他们知道，世界上没有比一个突然走运的穷人更大方的施舍者了。

奇诺找到了“稀世宝珠”。在城里，在一些小铺子里，坐着那些向渔夫收买珍珠的人。他们在椅子上坐着等待珍珠送进来，然后开始唠叨、争吵、叫嚷、威胁，直到他们达到渔夫肯接受的最低价的目的为止。可是他们杀价也不敢超过一个限度，因为曾经有一个渔夫由于绝望，把他的珍珠送给了教会。买完珍珠之后，这些收买人独自坐着，他们的手指不停地玩弄着珍珠。他们希望这些珍珠归他们所有。因为实际上并没有许多买主——只有一个买主，而他把这些代理人安置在分开的铺子里，造成一种互相竞争的假象。消息传到这些人那里，于是他们的眼睛眯了起来，指尖也有一点发痒，同时每人都想到那大老板不能永远活着，一定得有人接替他。每个人也都想到他只要有点本钱就可以有一个新的开端。

各式各样的人都对奇诺发生了兴趣——有东西要买的人以及有人情要央求的人。奇诺找到了“稀世宝珠”。珍珠的要素和人的要素一混合，一种奇怪的黑渣滓便沉淀了下来。每个人都突然跟奇诺的珍珠发生了关系，奇诺的珍珠也进入每个人的梦想、思索、企图、计划、前途、希望、需要、欲念、饥渴。只有一个人妨碍着大家，那个人就是奇诺，因此他莫名其妙地变成了每个人的敌人。那消息搅动了城里的一种无比肮脏、无比邪恶的东西；黑色的蒸馏液好像一只蝎子，或者像食物的香味所引起的食欲，或者像失恋时感到的寂寞。这个城的毒囊开始分泌毒液，城市便随着它的压力肿胀起来了。

1.vibrate v.颤动2.priest n.神父3.baptize v.给……施洗礼

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

7.almsgiver n.救济者8.threaten v.威胁9.semblance n.假象

10.squint v.眯眼看11.patron n.老板12.residue n.残渣

13.precipitate v.使沉淀14.lust n.欲望15.distillate n.蒸馏物

16.sac n.囊17.venom n.毒液18.swell v.膨胀

Tips for learning

1.giggle...with pleasure：这里的with表示原因或起因。由于某种感情而使某人有某种表现或行为。如：1）Gil was white and trembling with anger.2）He screamed with pain.

2.grew stern and judicious/interested in：这里的grew（动词原形为grow）用作系动词，意思与become接近，表示某人或某物逐渐变化至某种状态。通常用来描述感觉、态度或品质。例如文中听说奇诺采得稀世珍珠后，医生面部表情的变化和其他人态度上的转变都是由grow一词描述的。再举一列：I grew a little afraid of the man next door after the quarrel.

◆赏析◆

短篇小说《珍珠》（The Pearl）是美国作家约翰·斯坦贝克（John Steinbeck）的作品。1962年斯坦贝克获得诺贝尔文学奖。其代表作包括《人鼠之间》（Of Mice and Men）和曾经获得普利策奖的《愤怒的葡萄》（The Grapes of Wrath）。他的作品多描写下层社会为生活挣扎的小人物，且故事来自于真实存在的历史环境和事件。1940年，斯坦贝克在盛产珍珠的墨西哥拉巴斯地区旅行，在那里听到了当地口口相传的民间故事，获得灵感。1948年，讲述潜水采珠人奇诺（Kino）传奇故事的《珍珠》一书出版。该书又被称作寓言小说，探讨了人性、贪婪和邪恶等主题，成为斯坦贝克笔下最受欢迎的故事之一，并在美国、加拿大的中学课堂被广泛使用。

这个简单的故事开始于日出，结束于黄昏。男主人公奇诺是一名墨西哥印第安人，是潜水采珍珠的渔民。他和妻子胡安娜（Juana）以及几个月大的儿子小狗子（Coyotito）生活在渔村简陋的柴屋里。虽然生活贫苦，但一家人和睦安详。然而就在一天早上发生了不幸，小狗子被毒蝎子蜇伤了。夫妻俩带着儿子到镇上向生活富裕却世故的西班牙裔白人医生求医，因无法支付昂贵的医药费被拒之门外。求医不成，愤怒的奇诺回到渔村。夫妻俩划船出海，潜水寻找珍珠。不知是天意还是胡安娜的祈祷灵验了，奇诺竟找到一颗巨大无比的稀世珍珠。平静的生活从此被打破了。这颗珍珠不仅给原本生活朴素、单纯的夫妻带来了无穷的希望与遐想，更勾起了各式各样的人的种种邪念与垂涎。

本期节选的是小说第三章的部分内容。文章描述的是在奇诺和胡安娜意外采得稀世珍珠后，人还没到家，消息便已迅速在渔村和小镇中传播开来。教堂的神父开始“若有所思”地考虑如何与奇诺一家攀上关系，从中获益；当初不愿意出诊的医生忽然变得“既严肃又懂事”，口口声称“他是我的顾客”，甚至不请自来；乞丐们欢天喜地，期待着即将成为巨富的奇诺能够慷慨施舍；而珍珠商们则“眯起了眼睛”，寻思着如何好好赚他一笔。那颗珍珠象征着巨大的财富，更是反映人性美丑的一面镜子，搅动了人性中“无比肮脏、无比邪恶的东西”。在某种程度上，它与那只毒蝎子一样，给奇诺一家带来了灾难。

故事最终以小狗子被枪杀、珍珠被奇诺夫妇遗弃在大海而告终。曾给贫穷的奇诺带来无限期盼的珍珠，留下的不过是一段悲愤的回忆，仿佛老天爷给他们开了一个残酷的玩笑。整部小说没有跌宕起伏的情感纠葛，也没有宏大的叙事背景。斯坦贝克笔下的语言看似平淡，读来却惊心动魄，贯穿始终的隐喻使故事充满力量。令所有人着迷甚至疯狂的珍珠到底是纯洁的还是罪恶的，人性的本质究竟是淳朴善良的还是贪婪邪恶的，你是否愿意为改变命运的机遇作出牺牲与冒险，又是否遭遇过“福兮祸所伏”的人生际遇，《珍珠》为读者提供了广阔的想象空间，使得不同的人在阅读时会作出截然不同的解读。一如作者在小说的开篇写道：“如果这个故事是个寓言，也许每个人都能从里面领会到他自己的意义，用自己的生活体验去读它。”（Ifthisstoryisaparable,perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it.）

李丁文