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Recommended: The pearl
Subject:
It´s a story about good luck and bad luck in a poor fisherman´s life. The setting of the story is located in the southernmost part of California , in Mexico , near the town La Paz.
It is the story of a fisherman who found a pearl beyond price , the Pearl of the World. With the pearl, he hoped to buy peace and happiness for himself, his wife and their little son. Instead he found that peace and happiness are not to be purchased. They are, themselves, pearls beyond price.
The most important persons:
Kino: a young fisherman and pearl diver, very poor, wanted to give his wife and child new clothes, good food, a new house etc. So he had to find a big pearl, a giant pearl. He had to find it soon.
He was strong and his black hair hung over his brown forehead. His eyes were warm and fierce and bright and his moustache was thin and coarse.
Juana: Kino´s young wife.She had dark eyes and she was always looking at him when he awakened. She was a patient, fragile wife- but Kino often wondered at the iron will in his fragile wife. She was obedient, respectful, cheerful and patient, she could arch her back in child pain with hardly a cry. She could stand fatigue and hunger almost better than Kino himself. In the canoe she was like a strong man.
She always took Coyotito out of his hanging box and cleaned him and hammocked him in her shawl in a loop that placed him close to her breast. She sang softly an ancient song that had only three notes though endless variety of interval.
Coyotito: their baby -son , slept in a hanging box , was stung by a scorpion one morning.
Juan Toma's: Kino´s brother
Apolonia: His fat wife. They both had four children.
The doctor: he never came to the cluster of brush houses. Why should he, when he had more than he could do to take care of the rich people who lived in the stone and plaster houses of the town.
He was stout, his voice was hoarse with the fat that pressed on his throat. His eyes rested in puffy little hammocks of flesh and his mouth drooped with discontent. He had a red watered silk dressing gown that had come from Paris, a silver tray, a silver chocolate pot, etc.
The furnitures in his room were heavy and dark and gloomy. He had religious pictures hanging in his house, and a photograph of his dead wife.
Plot synopsis:
The fisherman Kino lived with his ...
... middle of paper ...
...ana and Kino reached La Paz, all people were present. Kino took the pearl in his hand, drew back his arm and flung the pearl with all his might. They saw the little splash in the distance.
When the pearl sank down to the bottom, the music of the pearl disappeared in Kino´s head.
Ideas, opinions and comments:
If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it.
In the town of the fishermen they tell the story of the pearl, they tell of Kino,of his wife and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man´s mind. It´s the story of a great pearl, how it was found and how it was lost again.
All retold tales are in people´s hearts, like this one. And there are only good and bad things and black and white things and good and evil things and there is no in-between anywhere. Being a pearl fisher in former days, was a hard and dangerous trade. Day after day, Kino went out in his boat, weighted himself around the waist with a big rock, and went down to the bottom of the sea, where the pearls were hidden. It was a trade which allowed a man only a few short years.
Set during the colonial era in Mexico, the story reveals the subjugation that the natives had to face and it shows the protagonist’s, Kino’s, attempt to go against the norms of the society and ask for something that was frankly unrealistic. This part of the story is related to the creative lens because Kino tried very hard to secure a future for his family but because the circumstances were not in his favor, he failed. It wasn’t socially accepted to ask for an education or a court marriage at that time for the natives because a native cannot desire to have what the colonists have. In this part of the story, the author uses the literary element of conflict to convey the message that even though Kino had the means to secure a future for himself, because he is a native and because he is aspiring to go against the social norms, he will eventually fail. As a result, it is clearly proven in The Pearl that humans will try to achieve something farfetched and will be unsuccessful in doing
Kino found one of the most valuable and precious pearls in the world and being convinced of its worth was not going to be cheated by only minimally upgrading his condition of life. Instead he wanted to break the fixed life and role that he and his family had and always would live. Kino refuses the maximum offer of fifteen hundred pesos that would easily ease his and his family’s pain and suffering for the coming months. Kino is then determined to trek to the capital to find a fair and just offer. Kino continues determined through the mountains after an attempt at the pearl, his canoe destroyed and his hut set a blaze. Continuing to put his family’s life on the line. It eventually takes the death of his beloved son Coyotito to make him realize he needs to stop being so greedy, no matter how hard he tries and to shut his mouth and know his role.
Many people worship the value of a sparkling pearl, but I, however, despise it. How one small object can determine the fate of man, I do not know. Nevertheless, it is clear to me that this pearl has brought evil upon my family and I will have no more of it. A while back, Kino discovered a valuable pearl and thought it had signified the end of our troubles. Sadly, his prediction was overcome by evil and we are now living lives even worse than before.
In the novel, the main character, Kino, goes out to find a pearl in hopes of getting money to pay the doctor to treat Coyotito, his son, who has been bitten by a scorpion. Kino discovers the biggest pearl anyone has ever seen, and believes the pearl will bring nothing but good for him and his family. The pearl does change the lives of Kino, his wife Juana, and Coyotito, but not in the way he had hoped. When the people in La Paz find out about Kino’s pearl, he is visited by a greedy priest and doctor, the deceitful pearl buyers try to scam him into selling it to them for less than it’s worth, and the pearl was almost stolen twice. Kino kills the second thief in self-defense...
Kino, the main character in “The Pearl”, starts off by being a loving, helpful companion to his lover Juana. The two are so connected they barely feel the need to talk to each other. Their life is almost perfect, until a scorpion stings their baby, Coyotito. Because the couple has very little money, the doctor will not cure Coyotito and says, “have I nothing
When Juana wanted to destroy the pearl, Kino beat her unmercifully: He struck her in the face and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side...He hissed at her like a snake and she stared at him with wide unfrightened eyes, like a sheep before a butcher. (742) Juana saw through the outer beauty of the pearl and knew it would destroy them, but Kino's vision was blurred by the possible prosperity the pearl brought. The malignant evil then spread to a secret cult known only as the trackers. This corrupt band of ruffians attacked and destroyed Kino's life. The very night that the trackers learned of Kino's pearl, they tried to steal it. The next night, Kino was attacked twice, which resulted in Kino committing murder. After the final struggle of the night, Juana went back to their home to find more baneful members of the heartless cult rampaging through their belongings to find the pearl. The end result was Kino and Juana's house going up in flames. The trackers then committed the cardinal sin, they destroyed Kino's canoe: This was an evil beyond thinking.
At first, the pearl symbolized aa amazing providence. With the discovery of the great pearl, Kino began to have hope for Coyotito’s future and thought of the different possibilities that lead before him. However, as the town found out about ‘“the Pearl of the World”’(Steinbeck, 1947, p. 23), it began to have an injurious effect into Kino’s simplistic life (SparkNotes Editors, 2002). Juana and Kino’s brother began to seek the pearl as a threat rather than a blessing as the pearl began to symbolize and associate more materialistic desires. With Kino’s desire to acquire wealth from the pearl, he altered from a happy and content father into a savage criminal. By Kino’s demonstration of the destruction of innocence from greed and desire, the pearl soon became a symbol of human destruction. Kino’s gluttony shortly leads him to violently mistreat his wife and also to the death of his only son, Coyotito (SparkNotes Editors, 2002). SparkNotes Editors (2002) believed that his greed ultimately isolated Kino from his cultural customs and society. Overall, according to Wheeler (2008), the parable’s moral lesson was that “money cannot buy
He is driven by greed, so much so that he could even see dreams form in the pearl. Kino is the head of a modest household and until he finds the pearl he lives a satisfied life with all he needs for his family to be happy. As soon as Kino finds the pearl he starts to want possessions he never wanted before. He dreams of education for Coyotito, marrying Juana in a Catholic church, purchasing new clothing for his family, and getting a harpoon and a rifle for himself. “It was the rifle that broke down the barriers . . . for it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more” (Steinbeck 32). Located within a small poverty-stricken community, a pearl diver named Kino finds “the Pearl of the World” and becomes suddenly rich, he begins to want items that he thought were impossible before. As Kino thinks more and more of what the pearl can do for him, he starts to think that it will raise his social status as well. This is only the beginning of Kino’s greediness, for the more he gets, the more he will want, and this begins to dehumanize him. Kino focuses on the wealth of the pearl and causes him to change his values about life. In the beginning, Kino is only focused on his family, once Kino finds the pearl he becomes more focused on the pearl, rather than his family. Kino cares a lot more about losing the pearl rather than something bad happening to his loved
First of all, Kino and Juana think the pearl is a great gift when they first discover it, but when bad fortune if brought upon them, they realize the pearl brings bad luck. In
"The Pearl" is about a poor man named Kino, his wife Juana, and their baby boy
Kino, Juana, and Coyotito go back to the beach and row out to an oyster bed, where he begins to search for the pearl. As Kino continues to search, Juana takes things into her own hands after being refused by the doctor and sucks the poison out of Coyotito and then puts seaweed on the wound, unknowingly healing him. Meanwhile Kino gathers several small oysters but suddenly comes across a particularly large oyster. He picks the oyster up and returns to the surface. When Kino opens the oyster he discovers the pearl. Word that the pearl has been discovered travel through the town quickly. People in the town became jealous of Kino and his family which eventually leads to a great deal of harm.
Kino, Juana and their infant son Coyotito live in a modest brush house by the sea. One morning, calamity visits their home when Coyotito is bitten by a scorpion. With hopes of protecting their son, Kino and Juana rush him to the doctor's clinic in town. However, when they arrive at the gate, they are turned away because they are poor natives and not paying customers. Later that same morning, Kino and Juana take their family canoe out to the estuary to go diving for pearls. Juana makes a poultice for Coyotito's wound while Kino canvases the sea bottom. Juana's prayers for a large pearl are answered when Kino surfaces with the largest pearl either of them has ever seen. Kino lets out a triumphant yell at his good fortune, prompting the surrounding boats to circle in and examine the treasure. In the afternoon, the whole neighborhood gathers at Kino's brush house to celebrate his find. Kino names a list of things that he will secure for his family with his newfound wealth, including a church wedding and an education for his son. The neighbors marvel at Kino's boldness, wondering if he is wise or foolish to hold such ambitions. Toward evening, the local priest visits Kino, to bless him on his new fortune, and to remind him of his place within the church. Shortly after, the doctor arrives, explaining that he was out in the morning but has come now to cure Coyotito. He administers a powdered capsule and promises to return in an hour. In this period, Coyotito grows violently ill and Kino decides to bury the pearl under the floor in a corner of the brush house. After the doctor returns, he feeds Coyotito a potion to quiet the baby's spasms. When the doctor inquires about payment, Kino explains the story of the pearl to him. This intrigue...
The pearl symbolizes many different things. To Kino, at first it symbolized happiness and hope. On page 39 in chapter 3, it has stated, "So lovely it was, so soft, and its own music came from it- its music of promise and delight, its guarantee of the future, of comfort and security. Its warm lucence promised a poultice against illness and a wall against insult. It closed a door on hunger." Kino sought happiness and riches, and as he was desperate he was blind to the greed that was enveloping him. All he saw was impossible hopes and dreams in the pearl. In other words, to him, the pearl guaranteed money and the comfort of a tranquil life.
In conclusion this novel has taken a poor greedy man and has put him through hell. First his son was bitten buy a scorpion and the man is determined to save his baby by finding a great pearl to sell and get money to pay the doctor to save his son. The man has murdered and decides to escape his town with his family. Some trackers, who the man bravely kills, followed the man and his family in the woods. After the battle his sick son, who was the reason he got in the whole mess with the pearl and murdering, died. Overall, The Pearl was filled with action, love, enemies, and family
John Steinbeck's The Pearl tells the story of Kino, a poor pearl diver who lives in Mexico with his wife, Juana and his baby boy, Coyotito. One day Kino finds a huge pearl worth a great deal of money. Kino dreams of being rich and buying all that he wants after he sells the pearl. The one thing that Kino doesn't realize is that there are many people who will do anything to steal the pearl from him. No one ever suspects the pearl's power todeceive, corrupt, and destroy. Hence, The Pearl depicts the ultimate battle between good and evil.