The Black Pearl

The Manta Diablo is one of the most prominent motifs in the novel, and as Ramón’s character grows, its meaning as a symbol morphs and changes. At the beginning of the story, the Manta Diablo represents the childish fairy tales of yore that filled Ramón’s childhood. Ramón’s mother tells him stories about the Manta Diablo to scare him into behaving; similarly, older men in the town tell tales about their experiences with the manta to instill a respect of the sea into the younger generations. Here, the Manta Diablo acts as boogeyman—a harmless threat with which to teach children how to behave in the society that they live in.

Eager to be an adult and rid himself of his childish fantasies, Ramón begins to believe the Manta Diablo to be nothing more than a silly superstition. However, the Manta Diablo becomes a very real threat as Ramón begins to learn how to dive and how to face the sea on his own. It proves capable of exacting revenge on the people who speak ill of it and on those who steal from it, thus acting as a guardian of the ocean’s bounty in the face of human depredations. This lends credence to Luzon’s lore, which depicts the Manta Diablo as almost an