The Pearl
Setting
The setting takes place in a small village in La Paz, just off the coast of the Baja Peninsula. The family is poor and they live in a greedy village. Also the book said, “the uncertain air that magnified some things and blotted out others hung over the whole Gulf so that all sights were unreal and vision could not be trusted; so that sea and land had the sharp clarities and the vagueness of a dream”(2.4)
Symbols
The pearl
The canoe
The scorpion
Allusions
The evil of the gods. The scorpion had to come from the gods to wreak havoc on the innocence.
History. Kino had a Mexican dream just like how Americans have the American dream.
Conflicts
External
Man vs nature- Coyotito vs scorpion. When the scorpion stings Coyotito,
…show more content…
When Kino finds the pearl everyone in the village wants it and declares Kino their enemy.
Man vs man- Kino vs the doctor. When Kino ask the doctor for his help the doctor refused because they were poor.
Internal
Man vs self-This happens to Kino when he figures out that the pearl is bad, but he also needs the money too. Kino was indecisive of what he should do.
Characters
Kino- The pearl diver. When he finds a huge pearl he becomes increasingly violent where it became a fight for survival.
Juana- The wife of Kino. She wished for a huge pearl where she learns that she actually summoned something evil.
Coyotito- Kino’s and Juno’s only child. He gets stung by a scorpion and the parents must find a pearl so they can pay the doctor to save him.
Doctor- Only helps Coyotito when he heard that Kino has found a pearl. He is very greedy and arrogant.
The dealers- A well-organized company that cheats and tricks pearl divers. All they want is Kino’s big pearl.
The priest- He is friendly and good, but like everyone he just wants a piece of the money that Kino will get from his big pearl.
Trackers- They want to steal Kino’s big pearl so they follow them when they leave the village.
Central Motif
…show more content…
"My son will read and open the books, and my son will write and will know writing. And my son will make numbers, and these things will make us free because he will know – he will know and through him we will know"”(3.15).
Kino had high hopes for his son when he found the pearl. Just like any good parent he wished only the best for his child. Kino’s hopes and dreams rested on God's shoulders not in his own hands. Since Kino’s wants were on God's shoulders he had a lower chance of meeting his goals. Most people with dreams and hopes start out with high expectations for reaching their dreams. But because we are human we have the possibility of not reaching our hopes and dreams.
“In the pearl he saw Juana and Coyotito and himself standing and kneeling at the high altar, and they were being married now that they could pay. He spoke softly, "We will be married – in the church””(3.9).
Kino feels that without money his dream of being truly married won't come true. Everyone wants to fall in love. Kinos problem is that he believes true love is when you get married. Kino feels that all of his dreams can come true with money, but really it's only his self doubt that's holding him back. Everyone has the ability to reach their goals if they put their soul into it. Dreams and hopes can be either a goal that is obtainable or one that is set up for
“You had become so wrapped up in the pearl’s worth, that you were willing to hurt me, your own wife, in order to protect it! Greed surely played a role in this, as no right-minded man would ever assault his wife for the fun of it.” Kino spoke softly, unable to meet my gaze, “I am a man. I must never show weakness.” I didn’t believe Kino’s excuses, and I am pretty sure he didn’t either.
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
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
On page 30, the doctor gives the illusion to Kino and Juana that he had cured Coyotito, despite only making him more ill. This mask of ignorance is put over their eyes so that the doctor can rob
He should have known that the pearl was bad news and to have thrown it back in the ocean. When everything was good in Kino’s life he only heard good songs which made sense and he knew that the good songs were going to bring good things to him and his family. The song he heard when he got the pearl were evil so he should have listened to Juana and thrown the pearl back in the ocean.
lot of money. Things start to look up for Keno and his family. This pearl becomes a part of Keno
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.
One example of this universal theme of humanity’s struggle with greed occurred in this novel when the doctor pretended to treat Coyotito for something that he did not have. It all started when a scorpion stung Coyotito. Kino and Juana’s only hope was the doctor, however, he refused to treat Coyotito because they were poor and they had nothing of value to pay for his services. Not long after this, Kino went to search for a good pearl in order to pay the doctor to treat his son. Kino found “the pearl of the world;” Juana and Kino were overjoyed. Once the doctor heard of this fine pearl, he rushed over to Kino’s hut to treat the sick baby by telling Kino a lie. The doctor’s excuse for not treating Coyotito sooner was, “ I was not in when you came this morning. But now at first chance, I have ...
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
When the doctor gets word that Kino has found the pearl he quickly rushes to their house to care for Coyotito after first turning them away. The doctor decides to help Coyotito because he realizes they now can afford to pay him which makes him start to recall the luxurious life he once lived while in Paris. This shows that the doctor does not care about helping Coyotito; he is merely interested in getting paid so he can live like he once did. The doctor is a good examp...
On page 89 it states, "He looked into its surface and it was gray and ulcerous. Evil faces peered from it into his eyes, and he saw the light of burning. And in the surface of the pearl he saw the frantic eyes of the man in the pool. In the surface of the pearl he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away. And the pearl was ugly; it was gray, like a malignant growth." In the end, Kino had finally realized that the pearl was nothing but a waste. Nothing good has come out of his journey to the rich life. He just suffered. The pearl held nothing but horrible memories. Now the pearl meant evil and
After Kino found his great pearl bad things started happening, Kino and Juana's lives were in trouble. Two men notified in the book as the "dark ones" tried to steal the pearl, luckily Kino had been prepared and got rid of the enemies but that was not the end of the misery. Coyotito got very sick and the Doctor had deliberately made things worse. When it was time to sell the pearl, the buyers offered prices that Kino thought were too low. Kino was angry with the pearl buyers for what they had said. "I will not make an offer at all. I do not want it. This is not a pearl - it is a monstrosity." Kino got angry and decided he wanted to go elsewhere and find a buyer for the pe...
As the story unfolds, evil enters into the lives of Kino, his wife, and his son. In chapter one, the evil that enters the family first is the scorpion. The scorpion enters the home of Kino and stings Kino’s baby, Coyotito. After Coyotito was stung, another evil soon came along. This evil was the doctor. When Kino and his wife, Juana, bring Coyotito to the doctor, the doctor refuses to help because they had little to no money.
For example, the doctor wants to get rich by the pearl, so he i svery greedy for and obsessed with it. He only treats Coyotito when Kino has the pearl to pay for the treatment, and he poisons Coyotito to gain more money as well. After this, Kino is pressured to get the money from the pearl to pay him for the treatment on time. “Tomorrow I will sell it”, Kino promises, “and then I will pay you.” (35) This builds up a lot of pressure for him to reach the capital and causes Kino to fail reaching the capital. During his journey, Kino envisions all of the terrible things the pearl does to him and his family, and he tells himself he will break the promise made to the doctor. These negative thoughts influence Kino to not reach the capital, and not to sell the pearl, and therefore not to find money to pay him back. Therefore, the doctor does not receive as much pay. the same goes for the other townspeople. The townspeople lay a lot of pressure on Kino and, therefore, lead to his and their
pearl is so big that it has no value. Kino has to hide the pearl, but while he sleeps a thief tries to steal it. The doctor who would not treat Coyotito's scorpion bite when they had no money now comes to them offering the best medical care he can provide.As the story of Kino's situation unfolds, Kino is forced to kill three men, and worst of all, Kino accidentally shoots Coyotito in the head while he is trying to shoot his pursuers. Finally, at Juana's urging, Kino throws the pearl back into the sea. He has made nothing from his fin...