I had to read this in 11th grade English. I can’t remember the title, but I remember vaguely what the story was about (heavily allegorical). There was a great treasure (possibly a pearl) that a group of people went looking for. Among them were a scientest, a cynic, a man that had been searching for it his whole life, and a couple who wanted to believe. The scientist found a boulder of ice and decided it was the great treasure he was seeking, and took it home to study it. The cynic found it, but was blinded when he saw it, and thus never admitted to seeing it. The person who had been searching for it ended up dying when he saw it, and the couple found it, took it home, and used it’s bright light to light up thier living room. I can’t for the life of me remember the name, and a google search doesn’t reveal anything. THe Author was more than likely American because we read the story in American Lit class (unless i’m mixing up my years and read it in 10th grade).
Nevermind, I thought of it. The Great Carbuncle by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
(and to think i wasted my 300th post answering my own damn question. Oh well, lets initate a discussion about the story rather than closing the thread, if it’s okay with the mod’s.)
I’d say I most relate to the Cynic in the story, as most of the people, I would surmise, on this boards would.
Here’s a copy. (Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work is public domain.)
[Spoilers]
There’s also a merchant & an aristocrat – respectively, the merchant’s desire to sell the carbuncle leads him to poverty and the aristocrat, unable to find it, leads him to settling for less & dying unremarkably. The couple had realized that the carbuncle was too grand for them & thus rejected it, leading a happy, fulfilling life.
[/Spoilers]
T’an okay story… out of Hawthorne’s short stuff I prefer Rappacini’s Daughter (the one about the girl made of poison), another story of knowledge/science leading to corruption and misery.
Ah… someone help! kicks spoiler tag ineffectually The one time I Don’t preview while using tags…