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Pears symbolize the sheer triviality of many of the sins people commit, especially the fact that there’s no deeper reason for most sins beyond the pleasure of doing something wrong. In his youth, Augustine and a group of friends stole a bunch of pears from a neighbor’s orchard. In his telling, Augustine emphasizes that he didn’t even want the pears, since he had tastier ones at home, and that the group ended up tossing the pears to some pigs instead of eating them. Instead, he stole the pears just for the thrill of stealing and going along with the group. Thus, the pears don’t just illustrate how far from God the youthful Augustine was; they symbolize the pervasiveness and banality of sin in a person who isn’t actively seeking God.
Pears Quotes in Confessions
The Confessions quotes below all refer to the symbol of Pears. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 2
Quotes
There was a pear-tree near our vineyard, loaded with fruit that was attractive neither to look at nor to taste. Late one night a band of ruffians, myself included, went off to shake down the fruit and carry it away, for we had continued our games out of doors until well after dark, as was our pernicious habit. We took away an enormous quantity of pears, not to eat them ourselves, but simply to throw them to the pigs. Perhaps we ate some of them, but our real pleasure consisted in doing something that was forbidden.
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Can anyone unravel this twisted tangle of knots? I shudder to look at it or think of such abomination. I long instead for innocence and justice, graceful and splendid in eyes whose sight is undefiled. [...] The man who enters their domain goes to share the joy of his Lord. He shall know no fear and shall lack no good. In him that is goodness itself he shall find his own best way of life. But I deserted you, my God. In my youth I wandered away, too far from your sustaining hand, and created of myself a barren waste.
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Pears Symbol Timeline in Confessions
The timeline below shows where the symbol Pears appears in Confessions. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2
...tree loaded with ugly fruits. One night, Augustine and his friends shook a bunch of pears off the tree, not even to eat them, but simply to throw them to the...
(full context)
[6] Augustine returns to the subject of the stolen pears. He didn’t really want them, because he had better pears at home. He only found...
(full context)
[8] Continuing to reflect on the pears incident, Augustine muses that he wouldn’t have committed the theft if he hadn’t also enjoyed...
(full context)
