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How greed is depicted in the pearl
How greed is depicted in the pearl
How greed is depicted in the pearl
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In The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, love is put to the test in different formats. Love for one another is profound. Love for a child is unconditional. However, when your social status affects this love and a pearl, bigger than any pearl you could ever imagine, could change your life from the standpoint of going from being poor to being more wealthy. If it could feed you and clothe you, or if it could get an education for your child so he could see the truth in the wrongdoings of others, couldn’t love conquer anything? However, love has many evils. The Pearl shows us how the love for material things, such as the pearl, money, a better way of life etc. can damage people and shred them of life. It can take the focus away from the real things you love and instead of obsessing on the strife. …show more content…
They are poor people. Their love is what is make them strong. Kino and Juana love is shown in many ways. It is shown to each other for example Juana makes fresh corn cakes every day for Kino and Coyotito. Kino shows his love by going to the sea to provide for his family. He also thinks about the future Coyotito and his family after he finds the pearl. “The second can release you in strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom”. These are characteristics of the second type of love. Before the pearl, Kino and Juana represent all of these when Coyotito is bitten by the scorpion. Both Kino and Juana spring into action. Kino grabs the scorpion and squishes it and kills it. He shows strength and courage for helping his child. Juana spring into action as well. She starts sucking the poison out of the Coyotito and prays for him. This is showing goodness, wisdom and courage. All of these show the second kind of love in Kino and
As Kino and Juana are eating, a scorpion descends on the little Coyotito threatening to sting him. Coyotito sees the scorpion on his cradle, and reaches out to grab it. Coyotito shakes the cradle, which makes the scorpion fall and land on his shoulder and sting him. Kino sees what the scorpion has done and grabs it and crushes it in his hand. Juana grabs Coyotito and begins sucking the venom out of the wound. The child continues to moan and their neighbors begin to gather outside of their hut. Juana tells Kino to summon the doctor, but Kino does not have much hope that he will come. Juana grabs Coyotito and runs out of their hut towards the doctor’s house. Kino and the rest of the neighbors follow. Once they have reached the doctor, a servant is waiting outside his house. They tell him that their baby child needs to see the doctor immediately. The servant tells them to wait, while he calls the doctor. The servant comes back and tells Kino that he doctor is very busy today and won’t be able to help them...
I must convince Kino to go home and dispose of the pearl because it has negatively changed his personality, and has put our family in grave danger. “Kino, look at what the pearl has done to us! Don’t you think it’s time to give up?” I asked, as I held Coyotito softly in my arms. “I am a man,” Kino replied in an exhausted tone.
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
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.
Even when attempting to do what is best, Kino’s harsh actions ultimately make him lose what he truly loves. When Kino finds the pearl he believes it is a new dawn, a good thing. To him, “It was the greatest pearl in the world,” but Juana sees otherwise. And when Juana attempts to fling the pearl out to sea, Kino “strikes her in the face with his clenched fist” and “kicks her in the side.” Kino harms Juana, whom he loves, because of attachment to the pearl. Kino refuses to let Juana destroy the pearl because, “"This pearl has become my soul," says Kino. "If I give it up I shall lose my soul.” Later on Kino attacks some men who are tracking them. Kino not destroying the pearl causes the trackers to come and, unfortunately, it caused Coyotito’s death, “lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away.”
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.
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
In John Steinbeck's letter to his son “Falling in Love” and Of Mice and Men, the idea that love should be valued and cherished is very prominent in both. In Steinbeck’s letter, he is stressing to his son how he is happy he has fallen in love and believes it is the greatest thing that can happen in life. Steinbeck also portrays this in Of Mice and Men by showing how unhappy Curley’s wife is with her life after marrying Curley while not being truly in love with him. In essence, Steinbeck shows this showing the exact opposite of what he thinks should happen. In the letter Steinbeck says that love is “about the greatest thing that can happen to anyone.” Steinbeck is trying to elude to his son how he should be very excited about what has happened as it may be the greatest thing that will ever happen to
When the book first begins, everything is upright and peaceable and Kino and Juana have a great marriage and a beautiful little baby boy, but in the blink of an eye things go from the best they could be to possibly crumble everything they know and love. In the beginning everyone is pleased and peaceful, but when Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion, it seems as if the very foundation of their lives falls apart. Then they try to go the doctor to help the fresh baby, but since they have no money they are speedily turned away. This forces them to act as quickly as possible so they do what they know and Kino is a pearl diver so he does just that he goes and plunges and when he does so, he finds the ‘’pearl of the world’’ and so then everyone receives
They both rely on someone else for help. George orders Lennie to "Hide in the brush .... come for you."(of mice and men.30) Lennie is like a baby, he needs to be taken care of, in even the most basic ways. Coyotito is managed by Kino and Juana. When Coyotitio got stung by a scorpion, he wails out in pain. Juana tells Kino, "Go get the doctor."(the pearl.7) Coyotito can't take care of himself, he relies on his parents for assistance. Lennie is like Coyotito in the way, that they rely on others. After Lennie met George at the bush, George "pulled the trigger."(of mice and men.106) George killed Lennie because, he no longer wanted, to get in trouble. Kino heard a "hysterical cry from the little cave ... the cry of [Coyotito's] death"(the pearl.87) Kino was anguished when he lost his son. He lost his real hope, his son. The pearl was what lead, to the death of his beloved son. The pearl represented his greed, his desire, his dark side. When he thought he could beat fate, fate triumphed and made him experience agony. Greed led to the demise of both
At the beginning of the book Kino and Juana lived a happy good life until their first and only child Coyotito got stung by a scorpion. The one-second that it took the scorpion to bite Coyotito changed the rest of Kino and Juana's life forever. Kino could not afford to pay for the medical attention Coyotito needed. Kino was determined to find a great pearl that could pay the doctor to save his son. "Kino in his pride and youth and strength, could remain down over two minutes without strain, so that he worked deliberately, selecting the largest shells."(Pg. 18)
Juana had argued with Kino countless of times about the pearl. She knew in her heart that the pearl was gonna cause trouble for them. Kino’s misguidedness meant that he was about to do something so idiotic that he will regret for the rest of his life. She ran to the beach ready to vanquish the pearl from her family, but Kino wasn’t about to allow that. He was behind Juana the entire time like a shadow.
This leads to change and, eventually, downfall. Before he finds the pearl, Kino “was a well-liked man” (43), and adored by all of his neighbors. Everyone looked up to his kindness and sympathy, but when he finds the Pearl, he changes. The pearl takes control over him, and he becomes too obsessed with getting his money. He loses his many things over it: “now it is my misfortune and my life and I will keep it” (66). The neighbors even suspect, “‘what a pity it would be if the pearl should destroy them all.’” (43) For example, KIno loses his family when he tries to protect the pearl and defies the pearl buying system, and when he mishandles Juana. Loisng his canoe symbolizes thi sloss of his family. He also loses his sanity. he beats Juana and kills four men. He “‘killed a man’” (61) and joins in many fights. For greed, he turns down the salesman`s offer for the pearl and ends with nothing left. Kino has the chance to take the money offered to him and be done, but he is greedy and he wants more. Then, at the end of the book, Kino throws the pearl into the sea, and with it, all the money he could possibly gain. He also lets the doctor treat Coyotito, even with his doubts, and now can not pay him because the pearl is his payment method, which is now gone. He thinks his money is secure, and in his mind, he is a rich man. This is not necessarily true, as readers learn, and because he was so secure, he must now pay for unnecessary
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...