A Piece of Black Coral Analysis

A Piece of Black Coral
Imagine a world where we are all equal, where we are all the same and where we don’t have a segregation of classes. Jacques Cousteau and Pablo Picasso are friends but will never be equal. In the short story “When Jacques Cousteau gave Pablo Picasso a piece of Black Coral” written by Pasha Malla, the author shifts from happy warm greetings to a segregation of social classes using literary elements such as descriptive details, old fashioned diction, and vivid imagery to show that the underclass population adores the upper class population, which are people who could care less about them. “Picasso removed his hand from his pocket within it was the black coral, he slapped it into Cousteau’s hand. Picasso pumped his arm vigorously crushing the coral into Cousteau’s hand then shut the door in his face. Cousteau was left standing on the street, his palm stung, after looking at his hand he saw there was a pattern of holes and furrows and puckered wrinkles carved deep and pink into his skin.” The author uses this descriptive detail to prove the segregation of social classes. Usually a hand shake means you’re equals, but in this case Picasso wanted to inflict pain on Cousteau to let him know he is in the weaker class and Picasso left the marks in his hand so he would remember that he is lower class and will never get to where Picasso is. “Inside Cousteau moved from room to room admiring the art that filled the villa: paintings piled on the floor, drawings pinned to walls, sculptures clumped in corners.” Cousteau admires Picasso’s work; he wishes that people could admire him as he admires Picasso. Picasso shut the door in Cousteau’s face showing he doesn’t care. Usually you would see your friend off then shut the door, but Picasso doesn’t see Cousteau as an equal or a friend. This really shows how Cousteau looks up to Picasso, but Picasso could care less about Cousteau. “Cousteau sat with Picasso on the whitewashed balcony of the painter’s villa in Cannes, drinking wine of an inconsequential vintage and gazing over the Mediterranean.” The author uses old fashioned diction to show the segregation of classes. Picasso is rich so the wine was vintage meaning old. Old wine is good as well as expensive. The author used the word inconsequential to show that it doesn’t matter to Picasso it’s just another bottle of wine to him. Picasso has money to blow. Picasso lives in a villa, which is a luxurious private residence that has almost 20 different rooms. If you live in a villa you had to be wealthy such as Picasso is. Lastly the author used imagery to show the segregation of classes. For example, “Cousteau sat with Picasso on the whitewashed balcony…” Picasso lives in this expensive villa with all of his paintings and work of arts in it, while Cousteau works on the Mediterranean, so it’s like Picasso is looking down on Cousteau’s job. “Inside Cousteau moved from room to room admiring the art that filled the villa...” While on the other hand Cousteau admires Picasso’s art and his profession. Picasso could care less about Cousteau’s work or profession; the lower social classes look at the upper class how we do celebrities.
Imagine a world where we can be equals, where we are all the same, and we didn’t have a segregation of classes. If we didn’t have that segregation of classes Jacques Cousteau and Pablo Picasso could have been friends. The author shows that the overall theme of this story is that the lower class adores people who could care less about them, by using literary devices such as descriptive details, old fashioned diction, and vivid imagery. Today in our world social classes are important they seem to be “carved deep” into us.