As Kino and Juana walked hand in hand back to their brush house the
song of evil hung over them like a shadow. For they could not understand why
their pearl , this beautiful wonderful pearl that was supposed to bring them so
much happiness wasn't worth nearly as much as they had expected. When they
arrived at the brush house Kino sat in a corner while Juana placed Coyotito down
in his crib for a nap. Kino again raised his pearl out in front of him. On it's
shiny surface he could see the images that he had once seen before starting
slowly to diminish. But Kino with a adamant look on his face refused to give up.
We will go to the capital city and get all that we deserve for this pearl. We
have waited long enough he told Juana. She heard his voice and she knew better
then to argue, she knew he was determined. The next morning Kino awoke early. He
turned to awaken Juana. He told her to pack the essentials, he wanted to get an
early start to the city. Juana awoke without a fuss. As Juana started to pack
she thought about Coyotito. She told Kino that it might be dangerous traveling
that long of a distance. Kino told her to bring him to the house of his brother
Juan Tomas. She did and Juan Tomas and his wife Apolonia said that they would
gladly take care of him. She thanked them and went back to Kino. He had just
finished packing. He then grabbed a few corn cakes and they started on their
long journey.
As they arrived in the city they had found that it had almost entirely
changed. The streets were more crowded, the stores were getting more business,
and all in all was more modern. Kino walked up to a young looking man and asked
where the pearl buyers were located. The man didn't answer he just walked away.
Kino thought that this particularly strange. Back at La Paz anyone would have
been glad to give Kino directions. Juana told Kino that she would try and that
maybe she would get directions. Juana went up to an older man and she asked him
the directions to the pearl buyers. She continued to tell him about the pearl,
how her husband had this big and exquisite pearl. Then he did something she
never expected him to do, pull out a rifle turned to Kino and demanded the pearl.
But Kino was confused. Because of his lack of knowledge he thought this man
When in power, Stalin, implemented a mass destruction of literature that may of been "politically incorrect". Different types of texts disappeared off shelves of libraries as censorship
...hes her in the face and kicks her. He is disgusted with her. He then turns and leaves. Kino makes his way up the beach as a group of men assault him. Kino struggles to get away and while doing so he stabs one of the men and kills him. Juana finally gets on her feet and begins to make her way home. She sees Kino lying on the group hurt with another man dead next to him. She hauls the dead man into the brush and tends to Kino. She says they must run away immediately because of what a terrible crime Kino committed. Kino refuses at first, but then agrees. Juana runs back to the house grabs Coyotito, while Kino goes to the beach once again to prepare his boat, but realizes that the group of men made a hole in it. He becomes full of rage and kicks at the water. He then tells Juana what happened and they decide to hide at Juan Tomas’s house for a while.
cure, so the doctor cured Coyotito. The next day, when Kino went to town to sell his
her to have sex with him. He should also have showed her his thing. She turned
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.
The common image that comes to mind on the topic of censorship is that of book burning. Dating back to ancient times, the easiest way to deal with unwanted writings has been to get rid of them, usually by heaping them into a blazing pyre. In his most famous science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury warns of a futuristic society where all literature is destroyed under a kerosene flame and the citizens' freedoms are kept in check by the lack of written information. In fear of this kind of totalitarianism, many bibliophiles have fought against all manners of censorship, wielding the first amendment and the rights recognized by our fore-fathers. But with the technological advances of this the last decade of the twentieth century and the up welling of a new informational medium comes a new twist to the struggle for freedom of expression.
La Paz, his home, was flipped upside down when the pearl was found. Characterization was skillfully used to bring the supporting characters of the story to life. Driving everyone to jealousy, the town was filled with people who had the same drive as Kino. “ The news came to these men, and their eyes squinted and their fingertips burned a little, and each one thought how the patron could not live forever and someone had to take his place”(Steinbeck 22). The doctor, the pearl buyers, and the priest, all going after what one brush house man luckily landed upon. Greed was like a disease, and it was spreading like wildflowers.
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.
“And Kino heard the music of the pearl, distorted and insane” (89). In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, a poor pearl diver and his family finds the pearl of the world and their life changes. These words reflect a once perfect pearl that changes throughout the book. The Pearl, the doctor, and the pearl buyers’ appearances manipulate Kino and his family and they discover that these objects and people are not what the first appear as. Through the use of characterization and symbolism, the author illustrates how first appearances are deceitful.
How did Russia often express itself during times of censorship and control? Literature. Despite being written during the times of Tsars and Imperialists, works like Nik...
Steinbeck begins his novel by introducing the conflict that puts Kino on his quest. Kino awakens to find his child bitten by a scorpion. After rushing to the doctor’s house, he realizes that he did not have a sufficient amount of money to pay for the doctor’s service. Later that day, the narrator reveals that Kino’s wife, “had not prayed directly for the recovery of the baby she had prayed that they might find a pearl for which to hire the doctor to cure the baby…” Therefore, as Kino was searching, he came upon a pearl that he knew would be enough to save his son. At the end of chapter 2, this is where Kino begins his quest to find a buyer and save his son.
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.
He went back to the bishop, but of course the bishop was skeptical. Next Juan Diego had to take care of his sick uncle and he avoided the hill. The Lady of Guadaloupe appeared to him along the path and told him his uncle was cured and he should climb the hill, where he would find roses, and bring them back to her. Juan Diego did
Kino looked over to see the now blank, empty face of the tracker fall into the pool of water, turning it crimson , like the falling maple leaves, that carpeted the ground. Kino could now hear the cry of evil. It was screaming in his ear. Letting him know that no good was near. As the sound of evil was shrieking in his ear, he felt a piercing pain in his stomach. His eyes flashed down to the spot in which the pain oozed from. A knife tip was pointing out, letting a pool of blood escape the inclosure of his skin. He could feel all the issues that were prying at his brain, float away. The only thing that was left was, nothing. It was blank. White. Kino couldn’t remember the first time he met Juana. The first time he laid eyes on Coyotito. All his memories were swirling away in a big cloud of smoke.
It seems oddly fitting that such a powerful phrase was written by Bulgakov in that, as stated above, his work survived for 27 years after his death before publication.