52 pages • 1 hour read
Yoon Ha LeeDragon Pearl
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 31-38Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 31 Summary
Jun’s ghost explains that he was working with the captain to retrieve the Dragon Pearl, but that doesn’t match the impression that Min received from the captain. The group follows Jun to the wreckage of his ship, and Min feels hopeless because the revelation of her brother’s death has rendered her rescue mission a failure. The ghosts of the rest of Jun’s crew wait anxiously for Captain Hwan to come to the planet so that they can take revenge on him for their deaths. Sujin contacts the captain, which makes Min suspicious.
Chapter 32 Summary
While Jun’s ghost is friendly, the horde of other ghosts are not. Min uses Charm to confuse the ghosts so that she and the group can escape. Sujin claims that although they contacted the captain, they did not provide Captain Hwan with their location or any other information, which makes Min feel better. The three take turns watching for danger. On Min’s watch, Jun appears. He states that he tricked the other ghosts into leaving her group alone, and when Min asks whose side he’s on, he says, “The only side I’m on is yours, Min” (271). Min believes him. She learns that Jun knows the exact location of the Dragon Pearl, and the four set out to retrieve it.
Chapter 33 Summary
The group hikes through the rain until they reach a wall of ghosts. Behind the group, the captain’s shuttle touches down. At this moment, Min realizes that Sujin gave the captain their location after all. It is now clear that Sujin and Haneul are working with the captain to get the Dragon Pearl. Shifting into hawk form, Min lets Jun guide her to the Dragon Pearl. The much-coveted item is a small stone that hosts “a tumult of colors, like a living ocean” (279). Min dives to grab the Dragon Pearl, and Jun puts up a mental shield so that the ghost guardians of the Dragon Pearl cannot harm her. With the Dragon Pearl in her talons, Min wheels around to find the captain aiming a blaster up at her.
Chapter 34 Summary
The captain blasts Min, and she crash-lands, shifting back to human form. Before he can advance upon her, however, the ghosts spin an image in the air of a long-dead shaman who betrayed them and tried to steal the Dragon Pearl for her own gain. They are sure that Min will do the same, but Jang’s ghost arrives to vouch for her good intentions. Meanwhile, the captain tries to convince Min to Charm the ghosts so that he and his crew can take the Dragon Pearl. Looking around, Min realizes that she must help the ghosts and save their world, and she thinks that “maybe, for once, I could help without using Charm” (287).
Chapter 35 Summary
Remembering the story that the captain told of his fallen comrade, Min convinces him to help her use the Dragon Pearl to help the ghosts. Together, Min, Sujin, Haneul, and Captain Hwan use the Dragon Pearl to terraform the planet into a proper burial site for the ghosts, making the land lush and green. All the ghosts but Jun’s crew disappear. The remaining ghosts converge upon the captain, tormenting him until he shapeshifts into his tiger form and runs away. The other ghosts follow him, but Jun remains behind. He wants to travel the universe, which he can do if he chooses to haunt Min instead of his old ship. Min agrees to this plan even though she worries that her brother’s ghost will bring bad luck wherever he goes. However, Jun tells her not to worry and tells her “[Y]ou make your own luck” (296).
Chapter 36 Summary
The remaining soldiers try to take Min into custody, but the Dragon Pearl makes a warning thunderclap boom, so they change their minds. Min, Sujin, Haneul, and Jun board the Pale Lightning, where Min and the cadets receive medical care, and Min is given a cabin in the guest quarters. For hours, she and Jun talk together and relive their memories, and she is struck by the notion that “none of it had changed, and everything had changed” (301). At dinner time, Sujin and Haneul arrive with food, and the group irons out any remaining hard feelings about recent events.
Chapter 37 Summary
At a spaceport, Min meets with the investigator who came to her house. He is impressed by everything she has accomplished and offers her a job with the Domestic Security Ministry, both because she is skilled and because it will protect her from the powerful government groups who seek to punish her and take the Dragon Pearl. Min agrees, and Jun is glad because it will give him an opportunity to explore the stars with his sister.
Chapter 38 Summary
Chapters 31-38 Analysis
In the final section of the book, alliances and allegiances shift rapidly as hidden plots are revealed and new hazards compel sworn enemies to work together for their own survival. Jun and the other ghosts initially intend to use Min and her friends as bait to lure the captain to them so they can exact revenge for their deaths. Later, the ghosts take their revenge, but Jun shifts his alliance to Min because his family connection takes precedence over his more recent need for revenge against Captain Hwan; additionally, he wants to resist a ghost’s natural tendency to become angry and vengeful. Another complication arises upon the realization that Sujin and Haneul broke Min out of the Pale Lightning’s brig on the captain’s orders and have only been helping Min since then because they believe that by helping the captain, they are getting revenge on Min for her betrayal. In Chapter 36, Sujin, Haneul, and Min finally reconcile their differences when Sujin and Haneul realize that the captain’s greed unhinged him and led him to harm innocent people in his attempt to obtain the Dragon Pearl. Min’s newest allegiance is to the Dragon Pearl itself, and accordingly, she uses it to bring new prosperity and equality to underprivileged planets by terraforming them. The job that she takes with the ministry will allow her to do this and will also keep her safe from powerful groups who seek to take the Dragon Pearl. This arrangement sets up the sequel (See: Background) and establishes the important role that Min will play in helping the universe and protecting the Dragon Pearl.
The author continues to show respect to the conventions of Korean mythology by resolving all the ghosts’ unfinished business in these final chapters. The ghosts of the Pale Lightning’s crew members take their revenge on the captain, and the ghosts of the Fourth Colony finally receive proper burials after years of roaming as unquiet spirits. When Min terraforms the planet to make it lush and beautiful, she honors the ghosts by restoring their home to what it once was. Jun and Jang are the only two ghosts who don’t become vengeful spirits. Jang’s understanding and trust in Min allows him to overcome his anger, and he is sent to his final resting place in peace. Jun stays with Min, who subverts the usual conventions of ghost stories by actively choosing to be haunted and refusing to be affected by any bad luck that her brother’s presence may cause. This decision demonstrates that she has completed The Evolution of Personal Identity and is determined to make her own way in the world; thus, the novel’s conclusion demonstrates that luck is a matter of choice, not chance.
Captain Hwan’s transformation into a tiger also holds mythological significance. According to Korean tradition, the Korean Peninsula is known as the “Land of Tigers” because the large cats used to stalk the plains and mountains. Although the Korean tiger is now extinct, it remains as a symbol of strength and power. Tigers are viewed both as a protector and as a dangerous predator, and this dual nature reflects Hwan’s status as both the ship’s captain (its protector) and as the antagonist of the novel’s broader plot structure. His final transformation into a white tiger both upholds and challenges Korean beliefs, for in the world of Korean mythology, tigers only turn white when they achieve enlightenment and peace; the white of their fur represents their purity and strength. While Hwan does have a change of heart about using the Dragon Pearl to help lay the ghosts to rest, this change of heart does not extend to not refraining from using the Dragon Pearl to achieve his own ends. His one good act is enough to give him the white tiger form, but the lack of human understanding in his eyes implies that he is only a wild animal at this point. Thus, the author implies that that Hwan’s transformation is initiated by something other than enlightenment.
It is important to note that unlike with her previous escapades, Min barely uses Charm in these final chapters. Thus, it is clear that she has come to fully appreciate The Damaging Effects of Lying and has learned to resist prioritizing selfish goals over pursuits that are mutually beneficial to everyone involved. Having achieved The Evolution of Personal Identity, she now realizes that Charm is a tool that should not be used to get everything she wants at the expense of others. Helping the ghosts is a selfless act that resolves The Conflict Between Ethical and Self-Serving Actions, for in this moment, Min neither wants nor expects anything in return for helping the Fourth Colony ghosts. Her new connection to the Dragon Pearl has allowed her to see the importance of helping others, as well as the importance of acting in the best interests of all beings, whether they are alive or dead. Although her Charm allows her to lie her way through situations, its effects wear off quickly once she is no longer present to maintain her influence. By contrast, the power of the Dragon Pearl is infinite, and the terraforming of the Fourth Colony will remain long after Min leaves, allowing her good deed to have lasting beneficial effects upon the planet as a whole.
