The phoenix-stone (or fire opal), the object around which much of Splendors and Glooms revolves, broadly represents the corruptive influence of power. More specifically, the phoenix-stone symbolizes the greed that power elicits, reflecting the hunger for love that no amount of power can satisfy. Love is gained by offering protection and care and revealing one’s vulnerabilities; the phoenix-stone fosters betrayal and selfishness and enables illusion. Cassandra first finds the phoenix-stone in a trunk of other precious gems her friend inherits from her mother. Taken with the gem because of its shifting colors (primarily red, orange, and yellow) and the sense of power she feels from it, Cassandra steals it from her friend, certain the stone will give her what she wants: love and the attention she craves from her distant father. The theft poisons the friendship, however, and Cassandra comes to believe this friendship was the last time she ever knew love. Her father never shows her the warmth she hopes for.

The phoenix-stone draws on several existing bits of folklore and mythology. The novel indicates that the word “opal” derives from the Sanskrit for “precious stone” and later from the Greek for “to see a change of color.