Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay about the life of john steinbeck
Essay about native american literature
Essay on john steinbeck
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay about the life of john steinbeck
Symbolism in The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Novels were created to show a very naive view in great depth. The Pearl is a novel in its most complete form. Steinbeck does this by conveying life symbolically. Through symbols, John offers the reader a clearer look at life and it?s content. He shows major imagery in four ways: Kino, music, Coyotito, and the 'Pearl of the World'.
Kino overall symbolizes clearly good and innocent. Kino is thought of as 'a wise, primitive man' who is hungry for fortune because of the great pearl, which he discovers and later in the story he becomes 'an angry, frightened, but resolute man, determined to keep what he has earned'. He is a young diver who lives in a small village on the coastline of Mexico. In the beginning of the story he has come to o...
Pearl is a symbol of Hester’s transgressions and even has similar qualities as the sin which she represents. Pearl’s life and behavior directly reflects the unacceptable and abnormal nature of Hester’s adulterous sin. Hester is plagued with more than just a letter “A”; she is given a child from her affair who is just as much a reminder of her sin as the scarlet letter. Ultimately Hester overcomes the shame associated the scarlet letter and creates a sense of family for herself and Pearl. This relationship is integral to the theme of this novel and the development of its characters.
He is one of the most greedy person in this book.Kino Was perfectly fine in the beginning of the book, but then he found the pearl and turned his life upside down.Kino had a perfect relationship with his wife, but then “he struck her in the face,he cluched her with his fist and she fell among the boulders,and he kicked her in the side.Kino looked down at her and his teeth were bared.He hissed at her like a snake, and Juana stared at him with wide UN frightened eyes,like a sheep before the butcher(59)”.Kino even got worse “When Juana tries to hid the pearl and Kino goes crazy and almost attacks her like a crazy man(38)”.But then there is this side of Kino when he first gets the pearl”When Kino thinks of all the things that the pearls wealth and money will do for them but not for anyone else(36)”.This is greedy because he only thinks of himself for the pearl.But Kino am greedy Most of the
Many stories in the world have a lot of the same characters. Carl Jung believed that universal, mythic characters called archetypes reside within the collective unconscious of people in the world. Archetypes are important because basically any story you will read will have archetypes in it. The archetypes in The Pearl are important because without the Hero, Ally, or Loyal Retainer archetypes in the book, The Pearl would have no story. This is why John Steinbeck uses many different archetypes in The Pearl such as the Hero, Ally, and Loyal Retainer.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Pearl, is a symbol of sin and adultery in the sense that she leads Dimmsdale and Hester to their confession and the acceptance of their sins. A beauitful daughter of the towns adulturist has somtimes demon like traits. She is also the only living symblol of the scarlet letter "A". In another way Pearl also makes a connection between Dimmsdale and Hester.
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
John Steinbeck’s novella, The Pearl, is written as a parable, which allows the reader to interpret its themes in their own way. It can take place in any time period, with any setting, and using any protagonist. The themes Steinbeck used throughout his book are universal and can applied to anyone’s lives. Its contrasting portrayal of good and evil creates a clear understanding of themes such as greed, illusions, and humanity and reason versus animalism and instinct.
Throughout The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, the themes of greed and prejudice are greatly expressed, from the beginning with the unjust doctor to the suspenseful end of the supposed ‘Pearl of the World.’ It is amazing, that even in a timeless story as this one, these harsh realities still haunt their world. It could take place yesterday, today, or tomorrow, but the point is that one cannot revert the world to one way of thinking, that is why greed and prejudice still exist. One can try as hard as they want but there are going to be those who are stubborn, of hard will, and those who believe their thoughts are right. I want to show that these themes go far beyond this parable and apply to the world we live in.
In The Pearl , the Mexican fisherman, Kino is very poor, but relatively happy. Kino is very close with his wife Juana, his baby son Coyotito and with the other fishermen. While diving for pearls one day, Kino discovers an extremely old and large oyster. Inside the oyster Kino finds the great pearl. The pearl is worth much and with it comes the promise of a better life for Kino and his family. The life of Kino and his family are changed forever by the greed of other people who begin to want the pearl for themselves. After much hardship, Kino realizes that the pearl could only bring more trouble, and casts the pearl out to sea.
The aspect of the John Steinbeck novels, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men, that is most comparable is how, in both books, Steinbeck denies the main characters of each book, Kino and George and Lennie to change their role in life or to beat fate. Steinbeck’s grim outlook of life was perhaps brought on through his early failures and poverty, because all three of the pre-mentioned characters had opportunities to change their fate or role but failed. The elements of discussion are Kino, George and Lennie, a comparison and a contrast.
The Pearl written by John Steinbeck is a parable, a story that teaches a moral lesson. The focus of this novel is on a poor Indian family. The family consists of three members: Kino, a husband, father, and fisherman, Juana, his wife and loving mother; and Coyotito their infant son. This indigent family lives in a small brush hut along the Gulf of Mexico by the town of La Paz. One day Coyotito, is bitten by a scorpion; a scorpion sting can be deadly to a baby. Kino and Juana are very worried over the health of their baby; therefore, they hope to find a pearl worthy enough for the doctor’s payment to the doctor to treat Coyotito. With luck on their side, Kino finds a pearl the size of a seagull’s egg; he calls it “The Pearl of the World.” This novel like others, is centered around a major theme; the theme of a literary work is defined as the main idea, concern or purpose about life that the author wants to convey to his or her reader. John Steinbeck in his novel The Pearl reveals the vital theme of Kino and his family’s struggle with greed.
The canoe symbolizes Kino’s heritage and his family. It and how to care for the wood had been passed down for generations. When the pearl is brought into Kino and Juana’s life the canoe became broken which shows that there was conflictions within the family. The scorpion shows that bad things happen to the purest things and we don’t really have control over what happens. The scorpion stings Coyotito, the son of Kino, who injects him with its poisonous venom. The couple does everything they could to save their son’s life but in the end, Coyotito’s life is still taken even though it is not taken by the scorpion. Kino’s dreams and the great pearl are things that were too good to be true. The night Kino finds the great pearl, he dreams of many wonderful things that he could do with the money he would get from the pearl. A rifle, a wedding for him and Juana, and an education for Coyotito, but instead of these wonderful things, the pearl brings nothing but havoc into the lives of Kino, Juana, and Coyotito. The pearl did teach the family valuable
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.
The discovery of the "magnificent" pearl changed the lives of Kino and Juana severely because they were not used to this kind of wealth. Before they found the pearl, Kino and Juana lived a happy, humble and quiet life. "Kino heard the little splash of the morning waves on the beach. It was very good - Kino closed his eyes again to listen to his music."(Pg. 1-2) Kino loved the simple life; nevertheless whenever things were beginning to look good and simple something went wrong.
Kino starts to realize that money cannot buy happiness, but by then it is too late. He is forced to take his family into hiding. They were followed by trackers, and Kino is forced to kill one of them. Kino and his family hide in a cave. He goes outside to attack the men that are still there, and one of the men ends up shooting Coyotito. Kino has to go back to town with his grieving wife, and without his son. When Kino and Juana are going to throw the pearl into the Gulf, they look into it. In it they see Coyotito, and the evil that killed him. Then they cast the pearl out into the water.
While every person is born with sin, people can still have a good heart. Kino has a lot of what we would consider good characteristics, especially in the beginning of the novella. Kino loves his common-law wife and wants to get married in the church whenever he sells the pearl. He also terribly loves his son, Coyotito. That is what started this whole adventure. When Coyotito got stung by a scorpion Kino took him to the doctor, despite knowing the doctor would not see him. He went pearl diving hoping to find something worth enough money for Coyotito to be seen and treated by the doctor, little did he know that that would be where everything would start going in a down-hill spiral. The pearl in a whole is not evil just like in the beginning Kino was not evil. It was the choices that Kino made that caused him to drown in this dark abyss of pride and greed. So was it his greed that caused him to do wrong acts or was it his pride that caused him to have greed? Out of all of Kino’s characteristics, “It is his pride that is most striking, and it is his pride that brings him disaster,” (Bates 43). “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall,” (Proverbs 16:18). It is in fact Kino’s pride that causes him to fall into sin. If he would not have been so prideful he would have sold the pearl at the original price the men were offering then none of the sinful actions