Long sleeve or short sleeve. Chocolate or vanilla. Tennis shoes or flip flops. We all make choices every day, and most of these choices are no biggie—it's not like the fate of the universe depends on them or anything. For Pearl in Dark Water, though, choices become a pretty big deal after she starts dating Amiel. Sure, it all starts out innocently enough. She tells a lie here, then another there, but before she knows it, she's stuck in the middle of a forest fire with a guy no one knows about and she isn't sure what to do.
Okay, so that might not be the fate of the universe exactly, but it's still a really big deal. Pearl's choices lead her down a path that she might not have chosen to head down had she realized where she was taking herself, one small choice at a time.
Questions About Choices
- Which choice(s) do you think Pearl would go back and change if she could? What is wrong with this/these choice(s)? Why does she make it/them in the first place?
- Does Pearl end up in her predicament because of one choice or a series of choices? Why?
- Which do you think Pearl regrets, calling her uncle to tell him where she is or running off with Amiel? What do her actions at the end of the novel (following Amiel to Mexico) tell us about this?
- Is there a situation where Pearl's choices don't impact anybody else? If yes, which and why? If not, what would have to happen to make this true?
Chew on This
Pearl doesn't realize until it's too late that her choices always affect the ones she loves.
While Pearl hates that her uncle dies trying to save her, she still would choose to be with Amiel on the day of the fire if she had to do it all over again.