Motivations cause humans to do many things, which aren’t always good. The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, is about a poverty-stricken native american man called Kino, who finds a magnificent pearl while desperately searching for one to save his son’s life. He becomes obsessed with the wealth and power the Pearl offers, and ends up losing everything he had due to the pearl, including his child. People share some key motivators with Kino and his wife, Juana that shape them to become the person the are destined to be.
One of Juana’s key motivators is a desire for peace. She shows this quality whenever she puts up with Kino, the head of the family, abusing her. This can be seen in the scene on page 59, when Steinbeck writes, “Her arm was up to throw
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One of them is an extreme desire to be respected, especially by the settlers. Kino has been deprived of respect and dignity for his entire life, and is willing to lose his values along with himself to be respected. This can be seen in the passage starting on page 24, as Kino is explaining to the other natives what the pearl will provide. “He spoke softly, ‘We will be married-in the church…’” All of the things Kino wishes for will greatly benefit him, yes, but most of the benefit of having luxuries for Kino is respect and admiration from the settlers and natives. He also wants to be respected to achieve to goal of his people since the settlers arrived: to be equal with everyone else. Kino’s connection with his ancestor’s yearnings can be clearly seen on page 30 when Steinbeck writes, “Kino stood in the door, filling it, and hatred raged and flamed in the back of his eyes, and fear too, for the hundreds years of subjugation were cut deep into him.” Kino absolutely detests the settlers because they have enslaved his people for centuries and smashed their culture to bits, and wants to fulfill his ancestor's greatest desires with all his might. The final reason why Kino craves respect so intensely is to make Coyotito’s life the best it can be. With respect, Kino can get money, which will provide education and luxuries like new clothes and shoes for his son. He can see the family progressing generation by generation, until they
Motivation is the driving force behind all actions and reactions. In both Sinclair Ross's "The Painted Door" and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" motivation is the central influence behind decisions made by the characters. It causes a dilemma that invokes an action which eventually leads to the tragically ironic conclusions.
Set during the colonial era in Mexico, the story reveals the subjugation that the natives had to face and it shows the protagonist’s, Kino’s, attempt to go against the norms of the society and ask for something that was frankly unrealistic. This part of the story is related to the creative lens because Kino tried very hard to secure a future for his family but because the circumstances were not in his favor, he failed. It wasn’t socially accepted to ask for an education or a court marriage at that time for the natives because a native cannot desire to have what the colonists have. In this part of the story, the author uses the literary element of conflict to convey the message that even though Kino had the means to secure a future for himself, because he is a native and because he is aspiring to go against the social norms, he will eventually fail. As a result, it is clearly proven in The Pearl that humans will try to achieve something farfetched and will be unsuccessful in doing
The aspect of the John Steinbeck novels, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men, that is most comparable is how, in both books, Steinbeck denies the main characters of each book, Kino and George and Lennie to change their role in life or to beat fate. Steinbeck’s grim outlook of life was perhaps brought on through his early failures and poverty, because all three of the pre-mentioned characters had opportunities to change their fate or role but failed. The elements of discussion are Kino, George and Lennie, a comparison and a contrast.
Motivation is the will to do something. Life has many different levels of motivation; achieving something, attempting to achieve something, and not trying it achieve something. Motivation can be applied to the American Dream. In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the levels of motivation are clearly evident, this affects the process of how the characters achieve their dreams. Of Mice and Men is a story of two migrant workers, how they deal with their American Dream, and the troubles of working on a ranch during The Great Depression. The Characters of Of Mice and Men are going through these levels of motivation and achievement. Through the Characters George and Lennie, Curley’s Wife, and Crooks the stable buck, Steinbeck illustrates that the American Dream is achievable through hard work, dedication, and lots motivation.
The point of living is so that you can accomplish something by the time you die. Therefore hopes and dreams are the driving force of life. Hopes and dreams are exactly what kept the two migrant workers, George and Lennie, going on in life. Their ambition of one day having a farm of their own is what makes Lennie and George work as hard as they do. The theme of these ambitions being deleterious is what makes up the story Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Even though the ambitions that the characters of the story have could show to be better for them and be their fresh start if proven pointless, the theme of the book Of Mice and Men is that ambitions are deleterious because for Lennie and George their hopes of one
To me, John Steinbeck’s, The Pearl, doesn’t really relate to me or my lifestyle in many ways. However, there are a couple of things I found that were similar in my lifestyle. I wake up every morning and strive to reach the best I can be. I go to school, work hard, and try to reach my best in all that I do. I have found this to be similar to Kino. Kino wakes up every morning and tries to give his family everything possible. He works very hard in finding his pearls and always tries to look for the best in his family. However, when Kino found the pearl and after many tries of getting rid of it, his life turned upside down. Juanita warned Kino many times, but he didn’t listen. Kino encountered many hardships including his son’s death, his house burning to ashes, and his family falling apart. From this, I have learned that when a person finds something that he think can bring something good into a family, he might be wrong because it might actually destroy his family and his life. Clearly, family relationships are very important and in this case, Kino was too late and realized this after his son Coyotito died.
John Steinbeck’s The Pearl is a socio-economic critique of the mini-society of La Paz, which is situated at the far end of the Baja Peninsula. The story is a cautionary tale about a fisherman, Kino, who lives a peaceful, rustic life with his wife, Juana, and baby son, Coyotito, on the outskirts of a Mexican town called La Paz-until one dark day, a stray scorpion stings little Coyotito and the family discover the flaws in the system. To try scrounge up the dollars for the doctor, Kino takes to the sea to find a pearl, and-lucky day!!-find one he does. While Kino is dazzled by the pearl and its promise, it ends up bringing nothing but pain, misery, and above all, greed. The novel addresses a struggle between rich and poor. It depicts the reality
In both “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Myers and The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the protagonists struggle with internal conflicts that ultimately change what they view to be important in life. Greg, who is attending high school, wants to play basketball, but is unable to as a result of poor grades. Kino, a man who loves his family more than anything, loses focus when he becomes drived by the prospect of riches. Both characters face challenges that eventually lead them to see what truly matters in life.
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
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.
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
Every individual has an inner drive to succeed over some challenge in their life. Individuals can experience motivation in different ways, whether it is from a good or bad situation. Even though good influences do have an impact on our lives, motivation is found to have a stronger impact from negative experiences. Negative people, especially, can have a huge influence on our lives, but this negativity can be turned into something useful and good. It is this motivation that keeps us striving to achieve our goal and which also promotes our nature of self-confidence and self-efficacy. A strong confidence and self-efficacy inspires an individual to take action and partake in change. These experiences enable us to self-evaluate ourselves and help us realize that each of us are able to live a happy and better life. In the two different mediums, “A Story of an Hour,” a short story by Kate Chopin and The Awakening Conscience, a painting by William Holman Hunt, show that the same person that can be the source of one’s downfall can also be the same person who is the inspiration for one’s redemption or awakening.
Juana, the wife to fisherman Kino, is one of the main characters in The Pearl. Coming from poverty, Juana and her husband live a minimalist life, as her simple clothes show (a battered blue head shawl and skirt, and a green ribbon knotted in her braids). Many themes in the story revolve around her. Although Juana understands her role to be a subservient and passive wife, she is smart, brave, and determined throughout the novella. Symbolizing the power and strength of women, Juana gradually becomes dominant over her husband. Juana’s second role in The Pearl is to be the protective mother of her son, Coyotito. Last, she is wise and logical in troubling times and acts as the voice of reason. Juana’s words and actions emphasize her various roles in The Pearl.
... at a high price. For instance, by buying a rifle, Kino can show that he has the same goods that the rich have, and so could limit the difference between the two social classes (Johnson 184). However, Kino and Juana have one main dream, and that is to give Coyotito an education. This is important at that time because it would remove the family’s ignorance, and Coyotito would be able to survive in the changing world using that knowledge (Johnson 184).