The Pearl

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In the short novella The Pearl written by John Steinbeck, Kino and his family who were not so wealthy were blessed with a great valuable pearl. Which brought lots and lots of happiness to Kino at the start but this happiness slowly starts to change into dissatisfaction for Kino and his town's people throughout the book. Kino faced many difficult situations because of the pearl and even his closest friends became his enemies. They were selfish and inconsiderate of what was happening. One lesson this story puts forward is that materialism and greed left unchecked can lead to immoral behavior, such as violence. From the very beginning of the book you can see that when Kino finds the pearl his townspeople are jealous of him. This starts to get more and more violent throughout the book. For example on page 23 the author says “ Every Man suddenly become related to Kino's pearl, and Kino's pearl went into the dreams, the speculations…” This demonstrated greed and separation from his town members. It shows how his town members are looking down at …show more content…

The doctor then said in curiosity “You have a pearl? A good pearl?” When the doctor knew about the pearl just about the same time everybody else did but he asked anyway to make it seem like he wasn't aware. This shows that doctor is selfish and greedy because the one and only reason he even bothered to come to Kino's house was to ask about the pearl. This refers back to the moral of the story “ materialism and greed left unchecked can lead to immoral behavior, such as violence.” Since the doctor had done something so immoral by poisoning the baby just to cure him for it to seem like he helped where in reality he just put the baby in more danger and tried to fool Kino for his

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    This leads to change and, eventually, downfall. Before he finds the pearl, Kino “was a well-liked man” (43), and adored by all of his neighbors. Everyone looked up to his kindness and sympathy, but when he finds the Pearl, he changes. The pearl takes control over him, and he becomes too obsessed with getting his money. He loses his many things over it: “now it is my misfortune and my life and I will keep it” (66). The neighbors even suspect, “‘what a pity it would be if the pearl should destroy them all.’” (43) For example, KIno loses his family when he tries to protect the pearl and defies the pearl buying system, and when he mishandles Juana. Loisng his canoe symbolizes thi sloss of his family. He also loses his sanity. he beats Juana and kills four men. He “‘killed a man’” (61) and joins in many fights. For greed, he turns down the salesman`s offer for the pearl and ends with nothing left. Kino has the chance to take the money offered to him and be done, but he is greedy and he wants more. Then, at the end of the book, Kino throws the pearl into the sea, and with it, all the money he could possibly gain. He also lets the doctor treat Coyotito, even with his doubts, and now can not pay him because the pearl is his payment method, which is now gone. He thinks his money is secure, and in his mind, he is a rich man. This is not necessarily true, as readers learn, and because he was so secure, he must now pay for unnecessary

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