Character Analysis Of Juana In John Steinbeck's The Pearl

The novel The Pearl is set in the coast of Mexico in an unspecified time, although likely in pre-modern times. Kino, a pearl diver, and Juana, a housewife, have a son named Coyotito. They live in a village of brush houses with people of the same social status. The upper class live further into the town. Although impoverished, Kino’s family lived simple yet happy lives. The peace in their life is disturbed when Coyotito is stung by a scorpion. Kino hesitates, for the doctor’s race had treated his people cruelly for the past 400 years. They are refused because the family doesn’t have anything to pay for the treatment. They go search for a pearls, in hopes of using it to hire the doctor. Things take a turn for the better when Kino finds a pearl described as "as big a seagull's egg", “perfect as the moon” and "the greatest pearl on earth".

She is portrayed as a traditional wife in their culture, but when the situation calls for it, she becomes a strong character which builds her an identity of her own. It was said that “..she could arch her back in child pain with hardly a cry. She could stand fatigue and hunger almost better than Kino himself. In the canoe she was like a strong man.” (Steinbeck 7) Her act of demanding the doctor for Coyotito is already courageous, and when told that the doctor wouldn’t come, her decision of seeking the doctor themselves proved Juana to be an absolute matriarchal figure. In a way, she can also be seen as optimistic. She hopes that things will go for her way by believing that divine intervention can happen (as seen by her superstitious and religious behavior). I commend Juana for doing something instead of waiting for miracles to happen. I think one should act if one wants something to be done, and that beliefs are just there to guide and reassure