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Essays on the novel of the pearl
Fate and destiny
Summary of the book the pearl
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Fate- The Pearl
In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, fate, human agency, and destiny impact the outcome of Kino’s story. Kino, Juana, and Coyotito their baby all live in poverty with very little money, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, and throughout Kino’s journey to help Coyotito there ar many ups and downs in which impact their lives.
Fate impacts Kino and his family in lots of ways. When Coyotito gets stung Kino and Juana both know that something not to short of a miracle will have to happen in order to save them and their baby.”...the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino...”(3.6) it is Kino’s fate to have the pearl and be wise with it.. They have a big journey to go on and all Kino wants is to get married to Juana in a church, Pay for Coyotito’s education, and get a rifle.”Another thought he might take the money and distribute it among the poor of La Paz”(4.6) this would be a good deed, but it wasn’t his fate. A really big thing happens to the small family
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“The news came early to the beggars in front of the church, and it made them giggle a little with pleasure, for they knew that there is no almsgiver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky”(3.2), this shows that there were lots of poor but it all was destined for Kino. Kino found the big pearl and thought all of his troubles were over but great power brings great responsibility.”Then to the lovely gray surface of the pearl came the little things Kino wanted”(3.12) Kino got what he wanted but paid a big price.”In the brush houses by the shore Kino's neighbors sat long over their breakfasts, and they spoke of what they would do if they had found the pearl”(4.6) it’s Kino’s destiny to have the pearl. Kino wanted good for his family but he didn’t realize that the great evil power of the pearl was driving him away from that, and therefore he is responsible for what happened to his
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.
I must convince Kino to go home and dispose of the pearl because it has negatively changed his personality, and has put our family in grave danger. “Kino, look at what the pearl has done to us! Don’t you think it’s time to give up?” I asked, as I held Coyotito softly in my arms. “I am a man,” Kino replied in an exhausted tone.
And in the pearl he saw Juana with her beaten face crawling home through the night... And there in the pearl Coyotito’s face, thick and feverish from the medicine” (69). When Kino looks into the pearl, he hopes to see a rifle and other things he wants, but he only sees the body of a man he killed, the body of Juana who he had beaten, and Coyotito, who was sick. All of these bad things that happened to Kino happened because of the pearl and what it brought. Before the pearl, Kino would never kill a man.
Juana soon notices that she and Kino have become every man’s enemy because of this pearl. She says, “‘Throw it away, Kino. Let us break it between stones. Let us bury it and forget the place. Let us throw it back into the sea.
He is one of the most greedy person in this book.Kino Was perfectly fine in the beginning of the book, but then he found the pearl and turned his life upside down.Kino had a perfect relationship with his wife, but then “he struck her in the face,he cluched her with his fist and she fell among the boulders,and he kicked her in the side.Kino looked down at her and his teeth were bared.He hissed at her like a snake, and Juana stared at him with wide UN frightened eyes,like a sheep before the butcher(59)”.Kino even got worse “When Juana tries to hid the pearl and Kino goes crazy and almost attacks her like a crazy man(38)”.But then there is this side of Kino when he first gets the pearl”When Kino thinks of all the things that the pearls wealth and money will do for them but not for anyone else(36)”.This is greedy because he only thinks of himself for the pearl.But Kino am greedy Most of the
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
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.
Kino is first characterized as a strong and fierce man that cares very deeply for his family. When a scorpion stings Coyotito, he “had it in this fingers, rubbing it to a paste in his hands,” (Steinbeck 5-6). Kino eliminates and overkills any treat to his family, showing the fierce and protective side of his character. After gaining the pearl however, his thoughts and emotion take over his judgement as he tries to bargain the pearl for a high price. Juana sees his actions as a problem, leading her to attempt to throw away the pearl for the safety for the family.
On page 89 it states, "He looked into its surface and it was gray and ulcerous. Evil faces peered from it into his eyes, and he saw the light of burning. And in the surface of the pearl he saw the frantic eyes of the man in the pool. In the surface of the pearl he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away. And the pearl was ugly; it was gray, like a malignant growth." In the end, Kino had finally realized that the pearl was nothing but a waste. Nothing good has come out of his journey to the rich life. He just suffered. The pearl held nothing but horrible memories. Now the pearl meant evil and
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)
While every person is born with sin, people can still have a good heart. Kino has a lot of what we would consider good characteristics, especially in the beginning of the novella. Kino loves his common-law wife and wants to get married in the church whenever he sells the pearl. He also terribly loves his son, Coyotito. That is what started this whole adventure. When Coyotito got stung by a scorpion Kino took him to the doctor, despite knowing the doctor would not see him. He went pearl diving hoping to find something worth enough money for Coyotito to be seen and treated by the doctor, little did he know that that would be where everything would start going in a down-hill spiral. The pearl in a whole is not evil just like in the beginning Kino was not evil. It was the choices that Kino made that caused him to drown in this dark abyss of pride and greed. So was it his greed that caused him to do wrong acts or was it his pride that caused him to have greed? Out of all of Kino’s characteristics, “It is his pride that is most striking, and it is his pride that brings him disaster,” (Bates 43). “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall,” (Proverbs 16:18). It is in fact Kino’s pride that causes him to fall into sin. If he would not have been so prideful he would have sold the pearl at the original price the men were offering then none of the sinful actions
This emphasizes the irony of the story because Kino’s goal of Coyotito going to school was now unachievable. As a result what has happened to Coyotito and obtaining the rifle in that process could have been avoided if Kino was to accept the final offer of the pearl, other than seeking for more than what was
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
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...