The Pearl By John Steinbeck Research Paper

The Pearl

The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a well written novella about a young man named Kino living in poverty with his wife and son. Steinbeck guides us through Kino’s discovery of a pearl that could change everything. When nobody wants to purchase Kino’s pearl, he doesn’t take no for an answer. The finding of the pearl changed Kino very much and not exactly in a positive way. In the end, he throws the pearl out into the ocean to get rid of it forever for it has done no good. The end of the book lead us to the theme that the good comes with the bad. John Steinbeck uses imagery, music, and nature to convey the theme that great fortune brings negative things to his readers.

Imagery is one of the major literary devices that Steinbeck uses to

help convey the theme to his readers. For example, on page 20, Steinbeck talks about the color Kino’s hand is after he discovers the pearl. “...hand he had smashed against the doctor’s gate, and the torn flesh of the knuckles was turned grayish white by the sea water.” The color ‘grayish white’ is a mix of black and white. Black, being a dark and evil color. White, being light and good. The mix of the two colors shows the mix of good and bad the pearl will do for Kino. Steinbeck continues to use imagery on page 89 talking about how the pearl grows in evilness. “And the pearl was ugly; it was gray,...” The pearl is no longer ‘grayish white’. it is now ‘gray’. The good the pearl holds is getting smaller and smaller page by page in the book. And finally, Kino decides to get rid of the pearl. “And the pearl settles into the lovely green water and dropped toward the bottom.”(90) Steinbeck uses the color green multiple times on this page. “...water was a green mirror.”(90) The color green is used after the pearl settles into the water for two reasons. One being the color of nature and how he is returning the pearl into the nature, And the other being the color green is the color of greed. That the greed Kino had had is now washed away within the sea water. These pieces of evidence lead us to the theme that the good comes with the bad because there is constantly black and white throughout the novella.
The motif of music is yet another way Steinbeck portrays the theme to his readers. One example of this motif is on page 51, where Kino tries to sell his pearl for a large amount of fortune. “He heard in his ears the evil music.” Following this quote, Kino receives a poor offer from the dealers. This music tells us that even though Kino has found a wonderful item, that doesn't always mean pure good will come from it. Steinbeck continues to convey the theme to us by using the motif of music on page 55. Juana hears the Song of Evil and fights it. “...hear the Song of Evil, she fought it, singing softly the melody of the family.” Shortly after, a mysterious dark figure had attacked Kino. This tells us that even with the glory of the pearl, negative things still may approach. Once Kino finally throws the pearl into the water, Steinbeck once more uses music to the reader's advantage. “And the music of the pear drifted to a whisper and disappeared.” (90) Us readers now know that the pearl is evil. So when the pearl’s music washes away, the evil it held did too. This telling us that the profits and the evilness of the pearl both disappeared when the pearl was washed away.