“The secret of an opal’s lies not in its substance but in its absences.” I felt so confused when I read this sentence first time. I thought that the charm of an opal is its appearance. Because of its colorful appearance and everyone is obsessed with glitter, so that’s why so many people go to mine in order to discover the opal and exchange for money.
Like the Rex Williamson, Ashmol’s dad, he wanted to find more opals in order to become rich. He wanted everyone in the Lighting Ridge to be respected to him. Dad may not understand why opal’s appearance is less important than its absences. The value of the opals is the dominant thing in his mind, the opal’s appearance decides how much it could be sold. However, for mom, she does not care about the opal forever. In her mind, her family and herself are the most important part of her life. When she argued with dad about Pobby and Dingan, if there’s no Ashmol, no one could know that Annie looked at her hometown and her ex-boyfriend in the midnight. When she knew that dad was in jail. She immediately went to the police, she did not think about how much money they would spend on this thing, she thought family is the top. So if mom did not care about the opal, she would not say that the opal’s substance or opal’s absences are the secret of the opal. Sometime I thought Kellyanne is same as mom’s personality, they did not care about the value of the opal, they put their friends and family on the top. So in the end I though Ashmol would say this sentence because he had an opal that was very colorful and it is as big as Pobby’s bellybutton, he knew it could sell a good price from its appearance. But because of Kellyanne, he finally exchanged this opal to a funeral. After the funeral, I thought Ashmol figured out that the opal is not the most important thing in his life, there are many different choices for him to earn money, then buy the ticket for his mom. Because he made the funeral, all the people in the Light Ridge came and they figured out that Rex is not a ratter. If he sold this opal, the only thing he could do is to buy a ticket for his mom, he could not make everyone figure out the truth. Even though he did not the opal for his mom, but that opal influent everyone in the Lighting Ridge.
There are different meanings for the family members. For dad, opal means the wealth, he could get much money from the opal and enjoy the better lifestyle. For mom, opal does not have a clear meaning, in her eyes, a family is more important than opals. But for Ashmol, after the funeral, he would not say that opal is the most important thing. He had already sold one opal for a funeral. He found out that even though opal is valuable but can not buy the happiness and family. If there're more colors on the opal, they show how expensive this opal is. The reason why the absences are important because if Ashmol gave this opal to his dad, then they exchanged it for money, Kellyanne would not be happy, Old Sis would win the lawsuit and everyone in the Lighting Ridge would continue to think Williamson is the ratter. Because of the absences of the opal, they lost the wealth but get the happiness and safety.
So because of the rare of the opals, that’s why it is so precious and attractive for everyone who lived in the Lighting Ridge, but for the people who had an opal before, they began to understand the charm of the opal is not the substance, but in its content. However, Ashmol understood it after he sold it. But for the whole family, there’s nothing more important than themselves, they learned love in this one month.
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