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THE PLOT SYNOPSIS
The novella begins with a description of the seemingly idyllic family life of Kino, his wife Juana and their infant son, Coyotito. Kino watches as Coyotito sleeps, but sees a scorpion crawl down the rope that holds the hanging box where Coyotito lies. Kino attempts to catch the scorpion, but Coyotito bumps the rope and the scorpion falls on him. Although Kino kills the scorpion, it still stings Coyotito. Juana and Kino, accompanied by their neighbors, go to see the local doctor, who refuses to treat Coyotito because Kino cannot pay.
Kino and Juana leave the doctors and take Coyotito down near the sea, where Juana uses a seaweed poultice on Coyotito’s shoulder, which is now swollen. Kino dives for oysters from his canoe, attempting to find pearls. He finds a very large oyster which yields an immense pearl, which he dubs “The Pearl of the World”. Kino howls, causing the other pearl divers to look up and race toward his canoe.
The news that Kino has found an immense pearl travels fast through La Paz. The doctor who refused to treat Coyotito decides to visit Kino. Kino’s neighbors begin to feel bitter toward him for his good fortune, but neither Kino nor Juana realize this feeling that they have engendered. Juan Tomas, Kino’s brother, asks him what he will do with his money, and he envisions getting married to Juana in a church and dressing Coyotito in a yachting cap and sailor suit. He claims that he will send Coyotito to school and buy a rifle for himself. The local priest visits and tells Kino to remember to give thanks and to pray for guidance. The doctor also visits, and although Coyotito seems to be healing, the doctor insists that Coyotito still faces danger and treats him. Kino tells the doctor that he will pay him once he sells his pearl, and the doctor attempts to discern where the pearl is located (Kino has buried it in the corner of his hut). That night, a thief attempts to break into Kino’s hut, but Kino drives him away. Juana tells Kino that the pearl will destroy them, but Kino insists that the pearl is their one chance and that tomorrow they will sell it.
Kino’s neighbors wonder what they would do if they had found the pearl, and suggest giving it as a present to the Pope, buying Masses for the souls of his family, and distributing it among the poor of La Paz. Kino goes to sell his pearl, accompanied by his neighbors, but the pearl dealer only offers a thousand pesos when Kino believes that he deserves fifty thousand. Although other dealers inspect the pearl and give similar prices, Kino refuses their offer and decides to go to the capital to sell it there. That night, Kino is attacked by more thieves, and Juana once again reminds him that the pearl is evil. However, he vows that he will not be cheated.
Later that night, Juana attempts to take the pearl and throw it into the ocean, but Kino finds her and beats her for doing so. A group of men accost Kino and knock the pearl from his hand. Juana watches from a distance, and sees Kino approach her, limping with another man whose throat Kino has slit. Juana finds the pearl, and they decide that they must go away even if the murder was in self-defense. Kino finds that his canoe has been damaged and their house was torn up and the outside set afire. They stay with Juan Tomas and his wife, Apolonia, where they hide for the next day before setting out for the capital that night.
Kino and Juana travel that night, and rest during the day. When Kino believes that he is being followed, the two hide and Kino sees several bighorn sheep trackers who pass by him. Kino and Juana escape into the mountains, where Juana and Coyotito hide in the cave while Kino takes his clothes off so that no one will see his white clothing. The trackers think that they hear something when they hear Coyotito crying, but decide that it is merely a coyote pup. After a tracker shoots in the direction of the cries, Kino attacks the three trackers, killing all three of them. Kino can hear nothing but the cry of death, for he soon realizes that Coyotito is dead from that first shot. Juana and Kino return to La Paz. Kino carries a rifle stolen from the one of the trackers he killed, while Juana carries the dead Coyotito. The two approach the gulf, and Kino, who now sees the image of Coyotito with his head blown off in the pearl, throws it into the ocean.
WATCH THE PEARL
SETTING
The pearl is set in a small village in La Paz, on the coast of the Baja Peninsula.
Set during the colonial era in Mexico, The Pearl takes place in a small rural town called La Paz on the Baja Peninsula. The setting of The Pearl has a dreamlike, surrealistic quality. Check out this passage from Chapter Two:
The uncertain air that magnified some things and blotted out others hung over the whole Gulf so that all sights were unreal and vision could not be trusted; so that sea and land had the sharp clarities and the vagueness of a dream. (2.4)
Steinbeck’s tale is other-worldly and reminds us that The Pearl isn’t just about Kino and Juana’s tale. Its message is universal, and its setting accordingly lacks specificity.
CHARACTERS
KINO
A strong, young Native American, Kino is The Pearl’s protagonist and the head of its central family. He lives with his wife, Juana, and their son, Coyotito, in a brush house near the Gulf Sea. They lead a simple and dignified life, and Kino works hard to keep his family nourished and protected. In the beginning of the novel, Kino is deeply connected to the culture of his ancestors—to their musical customs, their intimacy with nature, and their veneration of the family structure. When he finds the pearl, however, Kino develops grand ambitions and lofty aspirations, which distract him from these traditional values and lead him to commit uncharacteristic acts of violence in protection of the pearl—against his own wife as well as his greedy neighbors and others. By the end of the novel, after his efforts to keep the pearl have resulted in the disaster of Coyotito‘s death, Kino demonstrates a renewed respect for his wife and a return to his initial values, particularly when he allows Juana to walk by his side and then offers her the honor of throwing the pearl into the ocean.
JUANA
Like her husband, Kino, Juana is hard-working, serious, and able to endure great physical and emotional strain. She nurses Coyotito, builds fires for corncakes, prays in times of distress, and attempts to heal her baby’s scorpion sting. Though she defers to her husband as a wife is expected, Juana is also strong-willed, and it is she who insists that Coyotito see the doctor. When she takes initiative and tries to get rid of the evil pearl, however, Kino beats her into submission. Yet even Kino’s violence Juana accepts rationally, reminding herself of the necessity of man for woman.
COYOTITO
Although he is humble and silent, Coyotito is perhaps the most important character in the novel, Coyotito is Juana and Kino’s infant son. He is a naïve instigator of action: in the beginning of the novel, he shakes the rope of his hanging box, causing the scorpion to fall on his shoulder and sting him. It is to pay for his treatment that Kino searches for the pearl, and in the end, his cries awaken the trackers and cause them to shoot in his direction and kill him.
THE DOCTOR
The doctor is the ultimate embodiment of evil and greed in The Pearl. The opposite of what one would expect of a doctor, whose job is to care for others, he is selfish, indulgent, and malevolent, and cares only about his own wealth and pleasure. He lives alone (his wife is dead) and lies in bed all day, eating candies and chocolate. When he is first asked to care for Coyotito, he refuses and cruelly proclaims that he is not a “veterinarian.” As soon as he hears of Kino’s pearl, however, he falsely claims that he always intended to treat the baby. It is not clear, then, whether the treatment he uses on Coyotito is effective, or if he just manipulates Coyotito’s condition to worsen and then improve, making himself look good. All he cares about is getting Kino’s pearl and it can be assumed, given that he watches Kino’s eyes so closely to see if they indicate the pearl’s location, that he is responsible for at least one of the violent nighttime theft attempts in Kino’s house.
THE PEARL DEALERS
While the pearl-dealers appear to be individual buyers, each providing estimates independently of one another, they are, in fact, all operating under a single master buyer, who controls their bids and wages. Unbeknownst to Kino’s family or his neighbors, before Kino comes in with the pearl, the buyers have conspired to give him the lowest estimate possible. Their underestimation infuriates Kino, making him feel powerless and cheated, and forces him to go to the capital for a fairer assessment.
THE NEIGHBORS
Kino and Juana’s neighbors often assemble as a unified chorus or procession to follow and support the family. For the most part, they unite only in times of particular excitement and, even then, their primary function is to listen, observe, and spread news. Some townspeople, however, after hearing of Kino’s pearl, peel away from the passive chorus of villagers and turn against Kino, raiding his house, injuring him, and finally lighting his house on fire. These attacks occur at night, when Kino cannot see the faces of his attackers. So, while the neighbors present a unified front in the daylight, at night they attempt to realize their individual desires, in the privacy of darkness.
THE TRACKERS
These are the three men, two on foot and one on horseback, who come from the town to capture Kino’s family and pearl. In defense, Kino kills the trackers while they are resting around a fire during. Before he does, however, one of them mistakes Coyotito‘s cries for those of a coyote, and shoots and kills him.
THE PRIEST
The priest plays an active colonizing role in La Paz by spreading the Christian faith of the Europeans to the natives of the land. While Kino and Juana are persuaded by his benevolence—they follow his advice and repeat his sermons and prayers—he may not be as virtuous as they assume. It seems at times, as when he reminds Kino and Juana to thank God for their discovery, that he, too, is only interested in the wealth that their pearl promises.
THEMES IN THE PEARL
COMMUNITY
Social structures such as the family, village, and town, are central to The Pearl. The central unit, for Kino and Juana, is the family. Their daily lives and routines are organized around the family, and they make sacrifices for each other and for their son, Coyotito.
Outside the family’s hut is the village, which is small and generally comes together to follow and support Kino and his family when they are in need. The “Pearl of the World,” however, brings worldly concerns of wealth and self-advancement into the village and town, and brings out the worst in the neighbors. It inspires the individualistic greed of the neighbors who try to rob Kino’s home, and the communal conspiring of the pearl dealers who attempt cheat Kino of his deserved money. In the end, the one unit that remains united and strong and full of mutual love, even after loss and injury, is the family: Kino, Juana, and their dead son, Coyotito.
GOOD VS EVIL
The plot of The Pearl is driven by a constant struggle between the morally opposite forces of good and evil. Evil in The Pearl can appear in both man (the doctor) and nature (the scorpion); both evil man (the doctor) and good man (Kino); both ugly shape (the scorpion) and beautiful shape (the pearl). While the scorpion’s evil takes the form of lethal poison, man’s evil throughout the novel takes the form of overriding greed. The doctor, for instance, is evil because he acts upon greed over human care and professional responsibility. Similarly, the neighbors are evil when they act upon greed over neighborly respect, and Kino is evil when he acts upon greed over love for his wife.
Evil in the novel is an omnipotent, destructive force. One must either bear it (as in the case of the scorpion) or avoid it (as in the case of the pearl), because to combat it only breeds more evil. When Kino tries to fight off the thieves and protect the pearl, for instance, he ends up committing acts of evil himself, on both the thieves and his wife. Kino does destroy the evil-bearers that act to harm his family—he squashes the scorpion, kills the trackers, throws the pearl into the ocean—but he only succeeds in doing so after the evil has run its course and the poison has already seeped in.
VALUE AND WEALTH
The value and evaluation of material entities is a central theme in The Pearl. The value of the pearl, for example, requires reassessment throughout the novel: at the moment of its discovery, it seems to be worth Coyotito’s life. That the pearl-dealers then so underestimate the price of the pearl reveals how distant the monetary worth of something can be from its perceived value, and how much value is determined by those in power. Moreover, the determination of the pearl’s value has little to do with anything inherent to the object itself. As the narrator describes, a pearl forms by a natural “accident”: “a grain of sand could lie in the folds of muscle and irritate the flesh until in self-protection the flesh coated the grain with a layer of smooth cement.”
Kino’s canoe, on the other hand, is described as the “one thing of value he owned in the world.” Kino prizes his canoe not as a possession but as a “source of food,” a tool that allows him to fish and dive for pearls. It seems, therefore, that Kino values things that can help him provide him for his family. Unlike the pearl, whose sole function is to be possessed and looked at and whose value is assigned (arbitrarily) by people in power, the canoe is valuable because of its functionality and tradition, and its association with the dignity of work.
The Pearl reveals the slipperiness of value and evaluation: often, value is assessed by those who are already wealthy and powerful. What is valuable to one man (the canoe to Kino) may not seem valuable to another. Moreover, wealth in the novel is, in fact, not a source of well being, but of bad fortune or malicious greed. In the end, what remains of value to Kino and Juana is immaterial and has no price: love and the family.
In the end, dealing in the world of White wealth and medicine leaves Kino and Juana in a worse condition than they set out in: they end up without a son, home, or canoe. By throwing the pearl back into the ocean, it seems, Kino is attempting to free himself of the colonizers’ influence and escape their system of evaluation, to return to his own set of traditions and values. As readers, we might also take a step back and wonder whether Steinbeck might himself be guilty of the kind of racial discrimination that Kino attributes to the colonizers, in consistently describing him with animalistic characteristics and by making generalizations about “his people.”
NATURE
Nature is a powerful force in The Pearl. Natural elements often serve to instigate crucial plot-points. Sometimes they protect (as in the plants that keep Juana and Kino temporarily hidden from the trackers) and feed (as in the fire that cooks the corncakes); while at other times, they destroy (as in the scorpion that poisons Coyotitoand the fire that burns down Kino’s house). And throughout the novel, Kino is described as being, like his ancestors, intimately connected with nature. He is said to have “the deep participation with all things, the gift he had from his people. He heard every little sound of the gathering night, the sleepy complaint of settling birds…and the simple hiss of distance.”
Though powerful, however, nature’s force is essentially neutral, despite the meaning that mankind, here Kino and Juana, confer upon it. As described above, the pearl in itself is worthless—a mere cement-wrapped grain of sand—but, in the course of the novel, it represents for Kino and Juana first prosperity and hope, and then evil and despair. In attributing the pearl such meaning, Kino drifts away from his practice of “deep participation with all things” and into a system of valuation that is not his own, and that ultimately ends up backfiring. Finally, ridding himself of the pearl and all of the significance it’s been overlaid with, Kino is free to return to his truly meaningful, ancestral relationship with nature.
LITERAL TECHNIQUES USED IN THE PEARL
Personification
In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the author uses personification repeatedly to apply emotion to his descriptions of various settings. Personification means that things, such as fire, wind, and stars, are assigned qualities that are typically found in people. Let’s look at some examples of personification from each chapter of the novel.
Figurative Words
John Steinbeck, author of ‘The Pearl’, uses various forms of figurative language to help readers form pictures in their minds and make the story come to life.
The figurative language in chapter one is a simile and is based on the determination of the look on Juana’s facial expression. ” She looked at him, her eyes cold as the eyes of a lioness.” This is a simile because it is a comparison between two things using “like”or “as”. This is comparing how Juana reacts to her baby that night die because it was her first and only son.( found on page 7.)
The figurative language in chapter is, “He is an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he only lived to preserve himself and his family.” ( found on page 62) So to summarize, metaphors are a figure of speech that compares two or more things, by saying one thing is another in figurative form and not literally. Here, Kino is being compared to a wild animal, through its instincts.
The figurative language is, “Kino found the Pearl of the world.” This is a hyperbole, because he is exaggerating how great of the pearl it is, which is true, but not the most fascinating ones people can find around the world.
To his perspective, the pearl is beautiful to him with its shining shell and its large size, which no one has ever seen in their life. To summarize, a hyperbole is a type of figurative language that exaggerates the truth that should not be taken literally. (found on page 21)
Chapter 5
Another type of figurative language is a personification, which gives human like abilities to inanimate objects. The personification is the wind screamed over the Gulf.” This is found on page 66, which basically means that the wind was really loud and strong over the Gulf creating the noise of a scream.
SYMBOLISM IN THE PEARL
THE PEARL
The pearl is a complicated symbol. It highlights different themes and gathers new meaning as the plot progresses. When Kino first opens the oyster in which it lies, the pearl seems to signify that God is looking favorably on Kino and Juana. It soon becomes clear, however, that finding the pearl is not good fortune at all. Rather, it surfaces the evil and greedy impulses of everyone that comes into contact with it and thus symbolizes the materialism and selfishness of man’s desires. It represents, too, the arbitrariness of value and the capacity of an economic system to prevent those who are powerless from rising above their present state. Created by an accident with a grain of sand, the pearl is assigned a price—the lowest price possible—by conspiring pearl-dealers. Kino is cheated in this system because he is not powerful enough (and is assumed to be too ignorant) to see through the scandal and fight it.
THE SCORPION
The scorpion is a figure of pure evil, whose sole function in the novel is to do harm to the most innocent and powerless character, Coyotito. The scorpion symbolizes the evil that is found in nature, which is seemingly arbitrary and unmotivated, in contrast to the evil that is found in mankind, which is generally the result of selfish desire and greed.
KINO’S CANOE
Passed down through three generations, the canoe symbolizes for Kino the tradition and culture of his ancestors. Its importance to him demonstrates how much Kino values both his ancestry and the ability to provide for his family.
Attachments
Attachments1