In “The Pearl”, Kino is recognized as the man in the family, someone who is in charge and makes life changing decisions throughout the book; however, in “The Snow Walker”, Charlie believes he is the man at first, but realizes he could not survive without Kanaalaq’s help and her life saving techniques. There is a significant change that occurs in all the main characters throughout both stories. This change can be a matter of life or death. Kino, the main character in “The Pearl”, starts off by being a loving, helpful companion to his lover Juana. The two are so connected they barely feel the need to talk to each other. Their life is almost perfect, until a scorpion stings their baby, Coyotito. Because the couple has very little money, the doctor will not cure Coyotito and says, “have I nothing …show more content…
In the beginning of the movie, Charlie meets a few people of another ethnicity, these people are not known by names but rather by numbers. They have a young woman, Kanaalaq, who is very sick, and encourage Charlie to help her. He explains, “there is nothing I can do for her, she has TB or something”. Charlie finally agrees, but only because they have offered him tusks, which are very valuable. The two take off in a plane but it soon comes crashing down. Charlie is instantly pissed off and starts breaking things on the plane, without the decency to ask Kanaalaq if she is alright. He starts ripping apart the plane trying to salvage any materials. Kanaalaq starts fishing and eventually catches a large fish. When she tries to give it to Charlie he becomes angry and waves her away. Charlie does not realize how caring Kanaalaq is until he tries to leave her and find help. Charlie almost dies on his journey for help, thankfully Kanaalaq was close by to tend to his needs. At this moment something inside Charlie changes, he realizes he needs her to
As Kino and Juana are eating, a scorpion descends on the little Coyotito threatening to sting him. Coyotito sees the scorpion on his cradle, and reaches out to grab it. Coyotito shakes the cradle, which makes the scorpion fall and land on his shoulder and sting him. Kino sees what the scorpion has done and grabs it and crushes it in his hand. Juana grabs Coyotito and begins sucking the venom out of the wound. The child continues to moan and their neighbors begin to gather outside of their hut. Juana tells Kino to summon the doctor, but Kino does not have much hope that he will come. Juana grabs Coyotito and runs out of their hut towards the doctor’s house. Kino and the rest of the neighbors follow. Once they have reached the doctor, a servant is waiting outside his house. They tell him that their baby child needs to see the doctor immediately. The servant tells them to wait, while he calls the doctor. The servant comes back and tells Kino that he doctor is very busy today and won’t be able to help them...
Gradually, Charlie regains his strength and is healed through Kanaalaq's patient care. It is only after all this happens that he bothers to learn that she is called Kanaalaq. Slowly, he learns to connect with this young woman in a way that he has never connected with anyone. He learns to appreciate her, discovering that she is beautiful both inside and out.
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.
In the beginning of the novel, Charlie was a scared mute girl in a mental institution. Throughout the story, Charlie slowly realises her worth and learns how to accept herself as well as others.
Charlie’s character transition is an evidence of the saying, “Walk a mile in my shoes. See what I see, hear what I hear, feel what I feel, then maybe you’ll understand why I do what I do. Until then don’t judge me.” His journey with Kanalaaq showed him how important it is for people not to judge other for superficial
Films portraying cultural groups at times may fabricate or misinterpret the truth for the desire of popularity but, The Snow Walker properly depicted certain characteristics of the Inuit. This film even took additional measures to hire an actual Inuit actress to portray their Inuit female character. Annabella Piugattuk was born in the Northwest territories in Canada while being raised in a family where Inuit tradition was proudly exercised and passed down. With the dependable cultural background and experience casting Piugattuk was the perfect fit for the film’s Inuit character. Having a true connection between the character and actress further makes the film worthwhile.
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
Kino's relationship with Juana starts off as happy because they find the pearl, but as the story progresses the pearl brings Kino only darkness. Kino and Juana's relationship dynamic changes throughout the story.
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
Kino, Juana, and Coyotito go back to the beach and row out to an oyster bed, where he begins to search for the pearl. As Kino continues to search, Juana takes things into her own hands after being refused by the doctor and sucks the poison out of Coyotito and then puts seaweed on the wound, unknowingly healing him. Meanwhile Kino gathers several small oysters but suddenly comes across a particularly large oyster. He picks the oyster up and returns to the surface. When Kino opens the oyster he discovers the pearl. Word that the pearl has been discovered travel through the town quickly. People in the town became jealous of Kino and his family which eventually leads to a great deal of harm.
He describes them as pigs and explains that all they care about is their money and what they buy with that money which in in this case, is jewelry. At the end of his speech, young Charlie boasts the statement, “But they’re alive, they’re human beings”! This is the beginning of the ultimate end of young Charlie’s self-control relative to her depressing mind state. A few seconds later young Charlie’s father’s friend, Herbert enters the room and strolls over to him with a napkin wrapping something. Herbert and Joe, Charlie’s father begin to discuss the act of killing someone and how to get away with it. A few seconds into this conversation little Charlie jumps out of her seat because she cannot handle her compulsive thinking and worrying anymore and exclaims, “What’s the matter with you two? Do you always have to talk about killing people?”. This is when we, the audience are able to see what has ultimately happened to her in result of the negativity surrounding her and the mass amount of worrying she had been the victim of. After jumping out of her dinner seat and yelling, young Charlie storms away. Her uncle chases after her to speak with her and after approximately five minutes they end up sitting across from one another in a bar. At this point, little Charlie has calmed down some, but now it is Uncle Charlie’s turn to reach his
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)
She can see the evil within the pearl, and all the people like Kino, the priest and the doctor. She stays with Kino throughout their journey, even after he hits her, because kino is “ It meant that he was half insane and half god. It meant that Kino would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana, in her woman's soul, knew that the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it." (Steinbeck). she cannot imagine living without a man. Because of her position as a wife in a traditional society, Juana is necessarily subservient to Kino. She must follow what he views as his larger ambitions, even though her good sense cautions against it as their situation becomes increasingly desperate. Which is why she stays faithful to Kino and is with him every step of the way. Juana is the only who does no let the greed control her. She knew that what her and Kino were doing was dangerous, especially once they had gotten out of La Paz. Juana even refuses to leave him when they must hide from the trackers. Juana seems to be the only one who does no let the wealth captivate her. Like Kino, Juana is at first seduced by the greed the pearl awakens, but she is much quicker than Kino to recognize the pearl as a potential
One example of this universal theme of humanity’s struggle with violence that occurred in this novel happened when Kino violently attacked his wife to keep her from throwing his “precious” pearl into the sea. “ . . . he leaped at her and caught her arm and wrenched the pearl from her. He struck her in the face with ...
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...