Thesis For The Pearl By John Steinbeck

“The Pearl” Essay

In John Steinbeck’s fiction novella, “The Pearl,” Kino and his wife Juana, and baby, Coyotito, live on a gulf where it is poor. Kino and the other natives on the gulf go pearl diving very often to find pearls to sell them for money. Kino goes out on the water one day and finds a great pearl that is worth a lot of money. By that night, he knows what he will do with all the money, and it is all for him and his family. After Kino finds the pearl, he immediately becomes a different person becoming selfish, not smart, and mean. Many of Kino’s friends and family turn on him and don’t give him a second chance. Throughout the story, the readers are reminded that greed can change and corrupt people if they are not careful about their

From the time we read that Kino has found the pearl, we know he is a changed man. Steinbeck helps us figure this out by saying, “Then Kino’s fist closed over the pearl and his emotion broke over him. He put back his head and howled”(20). This line tells that Kino immediately snapped and became another person. We also get the idea that the pearl is evil and that it might start to do different things to Kino and his family. Throughout the story, many people try to tell Kino to destroy the pearl, but Kino does not listen and he does things his own way. This is foreshadowing that the pearl is evil and is doing bad things to Kino. This is another example of how greed can change and corrupt people if they are not careful about their

The pearl cursed the town, not just himself. This causes the town to turn on each other and become selfish to get the pearl. In the book, Steinbeck says,”and a tall edifice of fire lighted the pathway. Kino broke into a run; it was his brush house, he knew”(62). This line shows that the people are angry at Kino and the others, so they take it out on the person who started it all instead of changing things without violence. This is also another good example of how greed can change and corrupt people if they are not careful about their actions, even if you did not cause something bad to