The Pearl (John Steinbeck)

The Pearl (John Steinbeck)

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The Pearl (Summary )

          This novel was written by John Steinbeck and was one of his great works he ever wrote. Virtue and evil were the main topics discussed in the novel that dealt with many human feelings that are related to poverty, richness, sadness and happiness. There were presentations for man's greed and how people have ambitions to get money and be rich . The novel presented man's nature as a main topic to be discussed through many aspects of life such as greed, money love, hopes and many other points. A visit to Mexico made by Steinbeck in 1940 had inspired him to find such a topic to present from many points of view. The story is a parable that any one can see his life through its actions. La Paz is the place in which the story took place and which was so mysterious that you feel like you are there while reading. The story begins with these words:

            "In the town they tell the story of the great pearl - how it

             was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino,

             the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby,

             Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it

             has taken root in every man's mind. And, as with all

            retold tales that are in people's hearts, there are only

            good and bad things and black and white things and

            good and evil things and no in-between anywhere."

Kino the protagonist of the story who was a fisherman, a poor simple person living a simple life with his small family ,his wife and his baby son. His wife Juana and his son Coyotito were everything for him. They all lived happily despite the poverty they suffered. Things changed and the calm life of lovers turned to hell, this was after finding a massive pearl by Kino who had dreams of being rich and sending his son to school but nothing happened. "The pearl of the world revealed many things in the little village people's souls. Hatred and envy were appearing everywhere and evil began to chase the innocent family.

A bad accident happened to Kino's baby as he was stung by a scorpion and he was in a big danger. They didn't have the money to pay the doctor. After that Kino found the great pearl and he was very happy yet his wife was not as happy as him, she was afraid and felt there was evil accompanied the pearl. It seemed that Juana's fears were true as people of the village tried to steal the pearl, the pearl merchants tried to take it with very little money and the doctor tried to cure the baby in order to get the pearl. The baby was cured by Juana's curing methods and Kino decided to go to the town to sell the pearl. People attacked their house and burnt it. The small family were not happy anymore. Juana felt evil in the pearl and tried to get rid of it but Kino refused and decided to travel to sell it. When they traveled, they were chased by attackers who wanted the pearl. The attackers killed the baby boy Coyotito and that was the sad end of the story when Juana decided to throw the pearl with all the evil it carried in water again and the happy family turned to a sad one without the beloved baby.