The Role Of Juana In John Steinbeck's The Pearl

Women’s niche in society has evolved and morphed over time as they gained rights. Likewise, Juana’s role changed throughout John Steinbeck’s The Pearl as her life and the people surrounding her transformed. Juana filled three main positions throughout The Pearl: as a mother, wife to her husband Kino, and finally becoming an equal. Events in her life helped on the transition from role to role. The prevalent role Juana performed is to help mold the views created by the other characters. The Pearl reflects the dynamic between a husband and wife, how events in someone’s life can inspire alterations, and how one character can help form views about another.

How would someone feel not being an equal in a partnership? For instance, in The Pearl, “when Kino had finished, Juana came back to the fire and ate her breakfast”(Steinbeck 4). Juana is Kino’s caretaker as well as her son’s. The level of inequality between the

couple is exemplified when Steinbeck makes it clear repeatedly that Juana takes care of Kino and her son before herself because she is the woman in the family. A degree of submissiveness from Juana that matches how a wife would have responded to her husband in the early 19th century is present throughout most of the story. Steinbeck uses silence as a way to communicate not only the submissiveness of the woman, but the dominance of the man when Kino and Juana. For example, when he says, “hush,’ he said fiercely, ‘I am a man. Hush.’ And she was silent, for his voice was command” (Steinbeck 57). Steinbeck also uses her silence to depict her acceptance of Kino having the final say. However, Juana’s silence ends when tragedy strikes.

Tragedy can force a person out of one phase of his or her life and into the next. When Juana has her son, Coyotito, her role in her marriage changes. Now, not only is she responsible for the upkeep of Kino and herself, but she is also responsible for he upkeep of her son. In the hierarchy, Juana moves down another notch. In that time, circumstances might have been different if she had a daughter. As the mother of a girl, she may have been less protective, knowing what her daughter’s future role would be. However, since males are considered superior females due to their inheritance of a position of authority, Juana becomes her own last priority. While gaining a son influenced her one way, losing him swings back the pendulum. When Coyotito is killed, it changes Juana and Kino in a way not shown previously in the story. Instead of accepting being regarded as less than Kino, Juana makes her voice finally heard. For example, Juana eventually contradicts Kino and stands by her word. When Steinbeck says, “he looked then for weakness in her face, for fear or irresolution, and there was none”(Steinbeck 78), he has shown the transition Juana has made. She went from being beneath Kino to being able to express her opinion and beheard. By accepting her decision, Kino demonstrates how he has evolved and developed.
One of the notable things Juana does is develop other main characters. Her husband Kino experiences some changes in how he views his wife. Their relationship goes from having one dominant partner to Juana being considered Kino’s equal. Their marriage in The Pearl starts off with Kino saying things such as "you must. It is the wise thing and it is my wish”(Steinbeck 77). His words are used as a way to display his authority over his wife-this shows Kino’s dominant nature. However, his relationship with his wife changes throughout the story. As Juana starts to voice her opinion after losing her son, Kino begins to listen. “[shrugging] his shoulders helplessly then, but he had taken strength from her” (Steinbeck 78). Instead of making a decision and sticking by it, he looks to her to see what she thinks and is feeling about the particular situation. Steinbeck uses positioning to demonstrate another transformation in their relationship in regards to Juana’s role when he says, “the two came from the rutted country road into the city, and they were not walking in single file, Kino ahead and Juana behind, as usual, but side by side” ( Steinbeck 88). Walking beside Kino, shows that Juana is no longer his follower. Instead she has become his equal. The change her husband has made in accepting her as someone he can look to as opposed someone he looks down upon. Changes in Juana’s demeanor forced her husband to accept her as an equal partner.
The main woman in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl plays an array of roles throughout the story.

Juana, the wife of a fisherman, goes from submissive mother to equal partner. However, each change required a degree of momentum caused by events in her life. Her first change took place when she became a mother to Coyotito, thereby putting her husband and son before herself. The most drastic change occurs when her son is killed. This causes a shift in her actions, as she no longer has a son to take care of before herself. The final and foremost role of Juana is to help develop Kino and his personality. He starts off viewing Juana as subservient. However, he learns to view her an equal partner and look to her for her opinion. John Steinbeck uses Juana as a way to demonstrate the role of women in relation to a man, and the transformations that relationship can undergo. Steinbeck uses Juana as a way to demonstrate the changing roles of women in relation to a man and the transformation relationships can undergo, especially in times of

tragedy.