The Pearl Essay

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The pearl in The Pearl by John Steinbeck shows traits of the characters in their worst moments, but the pearl mostly showed the trait “greed” in Kino because of how his life was before he almost got wealthy. The greed and coveting overtook his mind and personality and changed him who he was as a person. The author showed this throughout the book in many different ways. Steinbeck uses the symbol of the pearl to show the power of greed through Kino’s constant list of desires, his hunger for money, and his constant violence.
Kino was extremely self-centered throughout the book, and one instance was when he had first found the pearl. Kino kept on seeing all these great fantasies in the surface, and he ended up getting brainwashed by the power the pearl possessed. “Blahblah,” (Steinbeck #). He became obsessed with obtaining all his wishes, and ever when terrible things happened, and he did terrible things to people, he still kept on seeing his cravings in the pearl. “Blahblah,” (Steinbeck #). His fixation on his dreams got him in trouble, and the pearl brought this undesirable side out o...

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