The Pearl Man

553 Words2 Pages

The Pearl, a phenomenal story written by author John Steinbeck tells a tale of a family that acquires a pearl so large, it would make them wealthy; in their journey to fortune, they experience difficulties such as changes in personalities and even physical harm. The family trek through other adventures such as the selling of the pearl and escaping their home. By the end of the story, several aspects of the main character Kino, father to Coyotito and husband to Juana, are altered by the pearl of the world. His mind goes from a well-oiled machine to a vicious animal to a man who can feel emotion.ou can find specific characteristics of human beings or “man”; these include emotions, a conscience, trains of thought, personalities, desires, etc.

All of us exhibit these traits; they make us who we are; if someone were to strip these features from us, we would no longer be “man,” we would be a machine, unthinking and automatic, or animal, instinctual. Characters in fiction can also …show more content…

The quote,“He threw it down and beat it into the earth floor with his fist,” (Steinbeck Chapter 1) helps show Kino's anger and rage at this tragedy; in this tiny sliver of the chapter, Kino viciously crushes the scorpion that stung his child. As stated before, humans, or “man,” feel emotions such as anger, happiness, sadness, and so on, Kino is experiencing one of these feelings, this shows his humanity. If Kino were a machine, the scorpion would have died a quick death, if Kino were an animal, the scorpion would have instantly killed when it was first spotted; instead of these actions, Kino eviscerated the scorpion in a fit of immense rage after it stung his son. This quote shows a part of humanity that Kino exhibits, emotion; he expresses the feeling of anger when he smashes the pest that hurt his

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