Wealth can lead you in many directions depending on if you are prepared for it or not. If it is unexpected, it will most definitely change your life. Unexpected wealth could be dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. Many people could use it on useless items or bad people could buy drugs or weapons. In addition, today many people could gamble their newly found wealth and lose all of their money on the lottery, on scratch tickets, or in casinos. On the other hand, unexpected wealth could be used productively if the right person got it. They could donate it to a charity, improve life for their family, or even put the money into the bank to save up for something. Along with using unexpected wealth being used poorly, greediness has its consequences. Finding something valuable and selling it can be hard if you are greedy. You may ask for too high of a price from the person you are selling it to and end up getting nothing or you may be ignorant and not know the price your item is supposed to be and sell it for too low of a price. Another consequence of greed is when you plan on using your wealth for something you don’t need instead of using it to help your family. You may take your family for granted and one day you will be sorry you did not help them make their life better when they are gone. Altogether unexpected wealth can be either a good thing or a bad thing and if you get greedy there are consequences. John Steinbeck’s, The Pearl illustrates how unexpected fortune can cause changes with which an individual is unprepared to deal. The ramifications of such a sudden materialistic windfall take their toll both externally and internally.
Jealousy can be a very dangerous thing if it is too strong. When Kino found the pearl “ev...
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...arl has made to all of their lives. Kino and Juana serve as an example for those who gain wealth unexpectedly, showing them exactly what not to do and how not to handle your wealth. Although Kino had good intentions with his pearl, he took it too far and that is what caused all of those awful things to happen to him. His life went through so many vicissitudes when he gained the pearl and he lost so much. He now has no pearl, which means he has no money, no baby, since he lost Coyotito, no house, since it was burned to the ground, and no canoe, since it was wrecked by the thieves. Kino and Juana will now live in shame and guilt and be tormented for the rest of their lives about their first baby’s death. This is what can happen when unexpected wealth falls into the wrong hands. It can change your life and hurt yourself and the people around you.
Works Cited
The pearl
Many people worship the value of a sparkling pearl, but I however, despise it. How one small object can determine the fate of man, I do not know. Nevertheless, it is clear to me that this pearl has brought evil upon my family and I will have no more of it. A while back, Kino discovered a valuable pearl and thought it had signified the end of our troubles. Sadly, his prediction was overcome by evil and we are now living lives even worse than before. 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.
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
If you were given a million dollars, what would you do? Spend it in a short amount of time? Or save it responsibly for the future? Many would say the latter, confident that they will accomplish that. But for a few, it doesn’t turn out that way. In the book, The Pearl, a family, Kino, Juana and their child, Coyotito, go through various hardships after they have found a pearl, eventually losing everything they had loved. With three examples from the novel, I will explain what the pearl in the book symbolizes.
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.
...een stones. Let us bury it and forget the place. Let us throw it back into the sea. It had brought evil. Kino my husband, it will destroy us” (38). The pearl brought greed to the forefront of the community; everyone wanted the pearl for him or herself. Juana, who was at one time thanking God for the pearl, was now telling Kino to throw it away because the greed that it was causing woul eventually destroy them.
“He who wants everything everytime will lose everything, anytime”- Vikrant Parsai. This famous quote supports the theme of “Greed and materialism left unchecked, can lead to immoral behavior such as violence” in the book, The Pearl by John Steinbeck. Kino and Juana find the pearl of the world while Kino gets a little too obsessed with the pearl. Juana tries to hide it and make everything better, but everything backfires on her . Kino goes crazy about what Juana tries to do to help him and does things no one would ever imagine.With this in mind, all the readers will look at how greed is expressed through characters,and even Kino himself and symbolism.
First of all, Kino and Juana think the pearl is a great gift when they first discover it, but when bad fortune if brought upon them, they realize the pearl brings bad luck. In
For example, when Juana argues with Kino about the pearl, she tells Kino, “The pearl is like a sin” (38). The pearl is compared to a sin using a simile and reveals how Juana truly feels about the pearl as it connotes evil, envy, and greed. This supports the fact that the pearl converts Kino and that it isn’t benevolent. In addition, when Juan Tomas tells Kino to leave the pearl, Kino tells Juan, “The pearl has become my soul” (67). Kino is shown to have an obsession with the pearl and that it controls him. His commitment to the pearl connotes obsession, delusion, and compulsion. The pearl and it’s hold on Kino is why he is dehumanized as the book progresses
American literature plays a vital role in society, providing entertainment while displaying themes that related to common problems during the 1940s. One of the novels that reflects some of these major problems is The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck. This novel is based on a story that Steinbeck heard on his trip to La Paz, Mexico in 1940. He describes this story in his book, The Log from the Sea of Cortez. Steinbeck tries to show the difficulties that many people faced in Mexico. In particular, The Pearl examines the social and cultural inequalities between the Mexicans and the Europeans, illustrates how longing for materialistic goods can result in destruction, and demonstrates how a man’s actions can influence his family’s dreams.
The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a classic novella. Steinbeck is a classic author that also wrote The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. “This long story (or short novel) follows five momentous days in the life of an Indian pearl diver living in La Paz, a small port on the Gulf of California,” (Gunn 1) . Kino is the pearl diver, and his son, Coyotito, gets stung by a scorpion, but the doctor will not see him because of race and status. That is until Kino goes pearl diving and finds a pearl the size of a gull’s egg. After that everything changes for Kino, his family, and the whole village. This novella is set up a lot like a parable in which it is an earthly story with an heavenly meaning. This story has many symbols that point to the overlying
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 ...
Due to human nature, we tend to seek out the best materialistic things. We work hard to earn more money to get newer and nicer things and sometimes this greed can get to even the best of us. When reading The Pearl by John Steinbeck I found that Steinbeck proposed many universal themes that are highly relatable to my life. Many themes and symbols have been cleverly weaved within Steinbeck’s novella allowing the reader to connect to Kino’s experiences. All things considered, Steinbeck’s symbols can clearly relate to my life through shared experiences with manipulation, chaos, and over obsession.
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
All retold tales are in people´s hearts, like this one. And there are only good and bad things and black and white things and good and evil things and there is no in-between anywhere. Being a pearl fisher in former days, was a hard and dangerous trade. Day after day, Kino went out in his boat, weighted himself around the waist with a big rock, and went down to the bottom of the sea, where the pearls were hidden. It was a trade which allowed a man only a few short years.
“A fool and his money are soon parted” (Unknown) people who are lucky enough to become suddenly rich will only ruin their life in the long run, either by winning a lottery, having a successful investment, or just claiming an inheritance, with these categories there are same effects: bothering charities, filing for bankruptcy within next five years, and unlasting happiness.