The Pearl by John Stienbeck Movie versus Novel

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In the novel The Pearl the author, John Steinbeck, writes about a man named Kino who finds a “Great Pearl” and how greed consumes him and the people around him with murderous feelings towards the beholder of the pearl. A movie was later adapted from the book in 1947 that exhibited many similar characteristics as the book. However, although the book and the movie are very much a like they are also quite different. In the novel, the main character, Kino, goes out to find a pearl in hopes of getting money to pay the doctor to treat Coyotito, his son, who has been bitten by a scorpion. Kino discovers the biggest pearl anyone has ever seen, and believes the pearl will bring nothing but good for him and his family. The pearl does change the lives of Kino, his wife Juana, and Coyotito, but not in the way he had hoped. When the people in La Paz find out about Kino’s pearl, he is visited by a greedy priest and doctor, the deceitful pearl buyers try to scam him into selling it to them for less than it’s worth, and the pearl was almost stolen twice. Kino kills the second thief in self-defense...

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