Juan’s gold earring originally belonged to his mother, Zulema. Juan’s father gave Zulema a pair of earrings as a present, along with a gold bracelet. Zulema dies when Juan is five, and he remembers little about her save that she was a “tender creature, lavish with small caresses and kindnesses” (4). After Zulema’s death, Doña Emilia takes Juan into her service and gives Juan one of his mother’s gold earrings, piercing his ear so that he might wear it. Here, the gold earring symbolizes Juan’s lingering connection with Zulema. Though Juan’s memories of his mother are limited, he remains tethered to her “sense of safety and of love” through her earring and retains an identity separate from his enslavement (4). 

Juan’s gold earring stays with him for most of his young adulthood. When first arriving in Madrid, he notices that his earring is missing, speculating that “[Don Carmelo] had stolen [his] earring as [he] lay unconscious” (41). However, Diego replaces the missing earring with its mate, threading it through Juan’s ear just as Emilia had. Juan admits that he is “glad to feel [the earring] bobbing against [his] cheek” (41). In stealing the earring, Carmelo robbed Juan of his connection with his mother and reduced Juan to his status as an enslaved man, someone without family or an identity that suggests his humanity.