The Pearl Greed Research Paper

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Recommended: Introduction about greed in society

In today's society, we are always told that our greed can affect the way we think and act. It is often told that greed can lead to a person taking advantage of family and loved ones in order to gain what he or she strongly desires, but we were never told the results of allowing greed to take control of us. Steinbeck explores the concept of greed and its effects in his novel, The Pearl, through the main character, Kino, and his family. Kino’s son, Coyotito, gets stung by a scorpion and is taken to a doctor that requires a high payment. Kino and his wife, Juana, find a pearl which Kino decides to bargain for a high price. Other villagers try to steal the pearl as a result of Kino hiding the pearl until a high enough price was offered. Kino’s …show more content…

First viewed as a beautiful and valuable prize, Kino’s pearl is used as a device for Steinbeck to drive the parable in The Pearl. Kino saw “the great pearl, perfect as the moon,” (Steinbeck 19). Kino saw the value in the pearl, and thus he wanted to get the most money he can out of it. The greed that was inside Kino took control of his actions until he sees Coyotito shot and killed, snapping Kino back to reality. As a result of what happened to his son, he sees that, “[the pearl] was gray and ulcerous,” (Steinbeck 89). Kino can’t see the pearl the same way he does at the start of the novel. In order to convey Kino’s view of the pearl, Steinbeck uses imagery to convey to the reader the results of Kino’s greed distorting …show more content…

Kino is first characterized as a strong and fierce man that cares very deeply for his family. When a scorpion stings Coyotito, he “had it in this fingers, rubbing it to a paste in his hands,” (Steinbeck 5-6). Kino eliminates and overkills any treat to his family, showing the fierce and protective side of his character. After gaining the pearl however, his thoughts and emotion take over his judgement as he tries to bargain the pearl for a high price. Juana sees his actions as a problem, leading her to attempt to throw away the pearl for the safety for the family. However, Kino “leaps at her and catches her arm and wrenches the pearl from her,” (Steinbeck 58-59). The pearl has clouded Kino’s actions, causing him to even attack his own life to keep the pearl. Kino characterizes from a man who protected his family aggressively into a man who is willing to take any action to keep the pearl and gain a fortune from

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  • The Pearl Greed Quotes Analysis

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    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

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  • Juana POV Essay Rough Draft

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

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  • Greed In The Great Gatsby

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    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

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  • John Steinbeck Figurative Language Analysis

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, when Juana argues with Kino about the pearl, she tells Kino, “The pearl is like a sin” (38). The pearl is compared to a sin using a simile and reveals how Juana truly feels about the pearl as it connotes evil, envy, and greed. This supports the fact that the pearl converts Kino and that it isn’t benevolent. In addition, when Juan Tomas tells Kino to leave the pearl, Kino tells Juan, “The pearl has become my soul” (67). Kino is shown to have an obsession with the pearl and that it controls him. His commitment to the pearl connotes obsession, delusion, and compulsion. The pearl and it’s hold on Kino is why he is dehumanized as the book progresses

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  • The Pearl John Steinbeck Analysis

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    At first, the pearl symbolized aa amazing providence. With the discovery of the great pearl, Kino began to have hope for Coyotito’s future and thought of the different possibilities that lead before him. However, as the town found out about ‘“the Pearl of the World”’(Steinbeck, 1947, p. 23), it began to have an injurious effect into Kino’s simplistic life (SparkNotes Editors, 2002). Juana and Kino’s brother began to seek the pearl as a threat rather than a blessing as the pearl began to symbolize and associate more materialistic desires. With Kino’s desire to acquire wealth from the pearl, he altered from a happy and content father into a savage criminal. By Kino’s demonstration of the destruction of innocence from greed and desire, the pearl soon became a symbol of human destruction. Kino’s gluttony shortly leads him to violently mistreat his wife and also to the death of his only son, Coyotito (SparkNotes Editors, 2002). SparkNotes Editors (2002) believed that his greed ultimately isolated Kino from his cultural customs and society. Overall, according to Wheeler (2008), the parable’s moral lesson was that “money cannot buy

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  • Of Mice And Men Vs The Pearl

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    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.

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  • Comparing Steinbeck's Loss Of Innocence And Coming Of Age

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    And in the pearl he saw Juana with her beaten face crawling home through the night... And there in the pearl Coyotito’s face, thick and feverish from the medicine” (69). When Kino looks into the pearl, he hopes to see a rifle and other things he wants, but he only sees the body of a man he killed, the body of Juana who he had beaten, and Coyotito, who was sick. All of these bad things that happened to Kino happened because of the pearl and what it brought. Before the pearl, Kino would never kill a man.

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  • Literary Criticism Of The Pearl

    1555 Words  | 4 Pages

    Readers can tell from the statement that many of the people Kino encounters after finding the pearl become bitter “friends”. At this point, Kino and Juana begin to realize that the pearl is bringing bad luck upon them. They are taken advantage of by the doctor and he decides to visit them after knowing they have the pearl. “This pearl is like a sin”(56). Juana begins to realize the pearl is bringing them bad luck, but Kino still trusts that it’s a gift. Readers can also assume that people are trying to take the pearl when Kino is suddenly attacked during the night. “Blood oozed down from his scalp and there was a long…”(56). Readers can now confirm that the pearl has changed and now represents evil. The pearl also begins to destroy Kino and Juana’s relationship as they have different opinions on what to do with the pearl. After Kino wakes up and follows Juana when she wakes up and walks out, readers know he has started to lose full trust in her. “He rolled up to his feet and followed her silently as she had gone” (58). Through the symbolism of the pearl and what it brings upon Kino and Juana, the author emphasizes how the pearl is not what it first appears to be, which was

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  • The Pearl Literary Analysis

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

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  • How Has The Pearl Changed Kino's Character

    256 Words  | 1 Pages

    First I will be telling you how the pearl changed Kino’s character over the course of the novel. He went from living a happy and calm life, to gaining wealth and destroying his innocence. Kino prays for wealth to be able to help his poisoned son, his life then changes forever when Kino goes diving and came across a sacred pearl. The pearl had great fortune, with this he could now do many things such as give his son a good education, marry his wife, Juana, in a proper church, etc. Then the pearl begins to give them bad luck, people begin to break into their house for the pearl. Kino tries to sell the pearl but he wasn’t getting offered the amount he wanted. Juana tries to throw the pearl away, but Kino was obsessed with it and out of anger beats

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  • The Action of The Pearl

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    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)

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  • How Does Steinbeck Characterize Kino's Greed

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    One form of symbolism is when the pearl changed colors from the beginning to the end of the book. In the beginning, the pearl was described as “perfect as the moon. It captured the light and refined it and gave it back in silver incandescence.” (Steinbeck, 20) However, at near the end of the book, the pearl was described as “ugly; it was gray, like a malignant growth.” (Steinbeck, 86) This means that the pearl’s evil grew out of control and invaded Kino’s body like a disease. The author is telling the reader that at the end of the novel, the pearl has drained out all of it’s evil. Another form of symbolism is the songs Kino hears in his head. There were songs, such as the song of the family or the song of evil, that would show the reader what the character was thinking about and feeling dread or delight. Before the first evil that the pearl brought into Kino and Juana’s lives, he began to hear the songs again. In the book, it read, “darkness spread over the page, and with darkness came the music of evil again.” (Steinbeck, 36) From that point on, Kino would always hear that song when the pearl brought them

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  • How Does Tragedy Affect Kino's Life

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the end, Kino wrong choices destroyed his life, hurt his own family, and murdered his baby boy using the pearl. To start off, when Kino found the pearl he said to himself,” I will sell the pearl” (Steinbeck, pg 35).

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  • Themes In The Pearl By John Steinbeck

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

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  • The Pearl : Appearances Can Be Deceiving

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

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