The Pearl Greed

Sometimes good luck can bring horrible results filled with pain, loss, and hatred. This is exactly what happens to Kino in The Pearl, by legendary author, John Steinbeck. The Pearl is a parable which holds the brilliant story of how one man’s findings of a great pearl will bring him and his family incredible sorrow and misfortune. In this book, John Steinbeck gloriously displays the many aspects of greed. Kino, his wife Juana, and their baby Coyotito are Mexican-Indian pearl divers who live honest lives, making a living out of selling their pearls. One morning, the unthinkable happens and Coyotito is stung by a scorpion: “His stinging tail was straight out behind him, but he could whip it up in a flash of time.” (4) When the doctor from

While diving to find a pearl, Kino comes across “the Pearl of the World”, “It was as large as a sea-gull’s egg. It was the greatest pearl in the world.” (19) Kino dreams of the possibilities that have opened up to his family; his son would go to school, he and his wife would be properly married, they would have good clothes, and Kino would have a rifle. The next day when Kino goes to the pearl buyers to sell his pearl, the buyers try to cheat him. This angers Kino so much that he promises to travel to the “capital” to sell his pearl: “I am cheated. My pearl is not for sale here. I will go, perhaps even to the capital.” (51) The night before they are to leave, a mysterious person tries to steal the pearl from Kino. Out of desperation, Kino kills the man and hides him. Then a manhunt begins to find Kino, burning down his house in the process. Kino decides they must head north and escape to the capital that night. Half-way through their journey, Kino and Juana find that trackers are following them. “ They were as sensitive as hounds. Here, he and Juana might have stepped out of the wheel rut, and these people from the inland, these hunters, could follow, could read a broken straw or a little tumbled pile of dust.”