The Dreams Of Opals

Rujian, Zhou

4/8/2016

The Dreams Of Opals

   Every people have dreams. In the book Pobby and Dingan, people in Lightning Ridge all dream about finding precious opals which can make them wealth. But like Australian Geographic quote says “The secret of an opal’s color lies not in its substance but its absence.” The most precious things on the opals are not the opals themselves, but those people’s dreams which relative with the opals.

   In the book Pobby and Dingan, the Ashmol’s father Rex is crazy about finding opals. Like other people in the town, Rex has a dream about opals. He brings all his family into this small and poor town of Lightning Ridge. Rex works the all day in the Opal mine, but he does not find any opals that worth money. Because of this, Rex becomes anxious about finding the opals. This also same to other miners. In the Lightning Ridge, as Ashmol says in the book “Ratting, you see, is the same thing as murder in Lightning Ridge—only a bit worse.” This shows how crazy those miners are, and they only care about finding colorful opals. To the Williamson family, the mother of Ashmol, Anne has a lot of complaining about this situation. Anne has a dream too. She was in England, where she lived on a big farm and had a wealthy boyfriend Peter. But now she is in this poor town with Rex finding those opals that “might not exist”.

   People in Lightning Ridge cares too much about the color and worth of the opals which are all appearance but forget what is their original dreams. In my opinion, Rex’s dream is not just about finding opals, but giving his family a better life by finding the opals. The things that more important than the opals are the dreams. Like Ashmol, he has a dream that he can live in the Lightning Ridge with his family happily. He says he likes living in Lightning Ridge “Because here there’s always opal waiting to be found, and there’s always something to dream about, like another Fire Bird or a Christmas Beetle or a Southern Princess or an Aurora Australis.” I am very impressive by his word about “There’s always something to dream about.” Every people have dreams which let them keep hopping. Dreams are important. In the book, Ashmol’s dream drive him to do many brave things for saving his sister Kellyanne. He goes around the town, finding Pobby and Dingan; he goes to his father’s claim at the midnight for finding Pobby and Dingan; and he arranged the funeral for Pobby and Dingan. When he gives the most beautiful opals that he has ever found to the funeral director for the funeral, he does not hesitate. He believes that he is doing the right things for Kellyanne, for himself and for his family.

   For people in Lightning Ridge, dreams come from the opals. But everyone pays too much attention to the substance, the worth of the opal, and miss the absence side of the opal - dreams. Opals are beautiful, expensive and colorful, but the dreams come from the opals are more precious. People can live because of those opal dreams, they are the goal of their life. Extend the opals dreams, you will people’s love. Like Ashmol, he cares his family very much, and he always put them in the first place in his life. Compares to those adults who are crazy about the opals’ substance, Ashmol seems more mature.

   The precious things do not usually appear on the outside, they are in the absence side where people used to miss. To be better, people need to find the absence side, to know what is the real precious things in their lives, like Ashmol does. I think to live in this way, to live with true precious things, such as family, is the true opals dreams that all of the people from Lightning Ridge have. Opals' beautiful out-looking always distract people from the real precious thing.