The Pearl
The pearl is Steinbeck’s most important symbol because of its direct impact of Coyotito, Juana, and Kino. In the beginning of the story the pearl is a symbol of the hope that Kino wishes to find. Once Kino finds the pearl it then symbolizes a better life for his family. Lastly, the pearl symbolizes evil as Kino’s family endures thieves, cheaters, and death that crept into Kino’s family.
The main character, Kino, relates songs to every aspect of his life. Kino’s ancestors had a song that represented everything they did, heard, thought, and even saw. Kino knew all of these songs in addition to his own personal songs. When Kino’s son was bitten by the poisonous scorpion Kino could hear the song of the enemy as he killed the scorpion. However, he did not just kill the scorpion he smashed it in between his hands until it became a paste. Then, he beat it with his fist after he threw it to the ground. Kino himself is now symbolic of a wild animal killing its prey. With baby
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The pearl now represents all of the evil that has happened to the family. Kino murdered a man to save the pearl and his home had burned down. Kino knew he had no choice but to leave with the pearl and go to Loreto. Juana worked hard to keep the evil away by remembering the song of the family. Even though Juana wanted to get rid of the pearl she new she must do as her husband told her. As Kino, Juana, and the baby were on the run Kino behaved as an animal being tracked. Kino made sure to cover his tracks as much as possible or to walk in the tracks that were left from wheels. He knew that once another cart came down the road the wheels would cover the family’s tracks. In the end as Kino attacked his trackers he could not save the life of his baby hiding in the cave with Juana. And as Juana knew that the mountains would stand long after man was gone it was also true about her
Kino, a family man with a dream, transforms into something not human but quite opposite. Juana and Kino both lived in poverty until coming across the pearl. Though the pearl was a miracle, it soon converts Kino into an animal to a machine. John Steinbeck, the author, dehumanizes Kino using figurative language.
For example, in the story, it says “ He struck her face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side” (59). This quote shows that Kino put the pearl above Juana when he mistreated her for getting rid of the pearl. Nobody should mistreat family members just because they want something. Another example from the story is “Hush, said Kino. “Do not speak any more”(39). This quote shows that Kino treats Juana like she is not equal to the pearl and like she is not equal to Kino. He treats the pearl better than he treats Juana. He demands her to do stuff to protect the pearl and to make sure it is not harmed. Kino does not listen to Juana when she says it is evil because he only sees satisyfing things in the pearl and he only trusts what he sees in it not what his family tells him. These pieces of evidence are connected to the theme because they show how Kino treated the Pearl better than his own wife
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
A pearl is conventionally associated with wealth and prosperity. Like a philosopher’s stone, the pearl is believed to convert sorrows into happiness. Kino, a decent pearl diver and his wife, Juana, along with their son, Coyotito, are a poverty-stricken family until they discover “the greatest pearl in the world.” (p19) With hopes and dreams for themselves and their son’s future, Kino and Juana perceive this pearl to be a resolution for all of their troubles. After finding “the Pearl of the World,” (p22) Kino is plagued with vexation. His greed soon overcomes his benevolence and good intentions. The joint rapacity of Kino and other people precipitates misfortune and violence around him and eventually leads to Coyotito's death. The Pearl highlights
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
The pearl symbolizes many different things. To Kino, at first it symbolized happiness and hope. On page 39 in chapter 3, it has stated, "So lovely it was, so soft, and its own music came from it- its music of promise and delight, its guarantee of the future, of comfort and security. Its warm lucence promised a poultice against illness and a wall against insult. It closed a door on hunger." Kino sought happiness and riches, and as he was desperate he was blind to the greed that was enveloping him. All he saw was impossible hopes and dreams in the pearl. In other words, to him, the pearl guaranteed money and the comfort of a tranquil life.
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)
He finds an ancient oyster and decides to open it last. Kino have gone through many oysters and found no pearls. He comes upon the last one. He opens it and finds the great pearl. The news about Kino spread throughout the town quickly.
”(57) On their way, attackers heard them and shot a gun into the air hitting the top of a cave that ricocheted onto Coyotito which instantly killed him. Secondly, not only does the pearl symbolize good and evil, it also symbolizes envy throughout the town. Everyone wanted a fine pearl as extraordinary as the one Kino had found.
John Steinbeck's “The Pearl” has a very evident use of symbolism in his writing. Symbolism is the Practice of using words to represent items. He uses special items to represent many different things like the canoe, the scorpion, but ultimately the pearl itself is one of the biggest symbols in the entire book. The canoe is a Symbol of life as it is Kino's job that keeps kino into the man he is.
Kino becomes a human with evil animal-like features, “Kino looked down at her and his teeth were bared. He hissed at her like a snake,” (59). Steinbeck also illustrates Kino as an animal, “He was an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he lived only to preserve himself,” (62). One of the worst things that Kino had done whilst the Pearl was in his possession was beat his wife, Juana, “He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side,” (59). Kino transforms into a cruel man with twisted intentions from this point until the end of the
Two men tried to rob Kino of his pearl in the middle of the night, but Kino was able to defend himself and the pearl. Kino’s plan started to have negative results, therefore Juana said, “It [the pearl] will destroy us all,” (Steinbeck 39). The pearl caused a bad action to take place, giving Juana a reason to warn Kino that his greediness will lead to more bad things. Both Kino and Juana are the voice of reason and logic; Kino thinks that the pearl will bring the family fortune because the pearl is valuable and Juana argues that the pearl will bring the family trouble because of the same reason. Both Kino and Juana have the same amount logic and reasoning to their point. Kino decides to keep going with his plan to sell his pearl because human nature is more likely to be greedy than it is to be modest. This point in the story shows why Juana, a women, represents modesty. The urge to be greedy is more powerful than the wish to be modest in humans and in Juana’s society, husbands are more powerful than wives. The wife is more likely to exemplify modesty, therefore Juana becomes the one that wants to throw away the pearl. Juana’s desire for modesty is rejected because she is the wife; just like how greediness overcomes modesty in
The quote,“He threw it down and beat it into the earth floor with his fist,” (Steinbeck Chapter 1) helps show Kino's anger and rage at this tragedy; in this tiny sliver of the chapter, Kino viciously crushes the scorpion that stung his child. As stated before, humans, or “man,” feel emotions such as anger, happiness, sadness, and so on, Kino is experiencing one of these feelings, this shows his humanity. If Kino were a machine, the scorpion would have died a quick death, if Kino were an animal, the scorpion would have instantly killed when it was first spotted; instead of these actions, Kino eviscerated the scorpion in a fit of immense rage after it stung his son. This quote shows a part of humanity that Kino exhibits, emotion; he expresses the feeling of anger when he smashes the pest that hurt his
In the novella The Pearl by John Steinbeck, symbolism is used to show what certain events may represent throughout the story. Symbolism is using symbols to give words a different, more in-depth meaning to a story. During the book, Kino, a poor village man from the Baja peninsula in Mexico, finds the “pearl of the world”. Everyone sees him as the man with the pearl, and not Kino. He needed to find a good pearl after his son, Coyotito, was stung by a scorpion and needed immediate medical attention. Directly following the discovery of the great pearl, Coyotito seems to improve. The selfish doctor gives him more poison, similar to a scorpion’s, so he can make profit off the pearl. From there, the pearl brings nothing but bad luck to Kino and
John Steinbeck's The Pearl tells the story of Kino, a poor pearl diver who lives in Mexico with his wife, Juana and his baby boy, Coyotito. One day Kino finds a huge pearl worth a great deal of money. Kino dreams of being rich and buying all that he wants after he sells the pearl. The one thing that Kino doesn't realize is that there are many people who will do anything to steal the pearl from him. No one ever suspects the pearl's power todeceive, corrupt, and destroy. Hence, The Pearl depicts the ultimate battle between good and evil.