The Pearl Essay

Good or Evil?

In the novel The Pearl, John Steinbeck creates a poor island family: Kino, Juana, and Coyotito. In the canoe, over the deep, blue, ocean stands Kino and Juana. Kino, ready to dive and Juana, hoping for that magnificent pearl. Kino finds a great pearl but instead of bringing wealth and good it brings evil. The pearl brought a rude awakening about greed, life, and love to Kino and his family.

Kino finds a magnificent pearl but instead of bringing good it brings evil. When Coyotito get stung by a scorpion, Kino and Juana cannot afford the doctor's help. But once Kino finds the pearl, and the doctor finds out, he comes to them. It seems the doctor is very greedy and could be a nicer human being. Instead of the doctor taking all of his money, he could give some of it to people who need it to survive. Though Coyotito slowly gets better, Kino and Juana do not. They have people trying to steal the pearl and new people trying to be their friends just because they have a pearl. Kino and Juana are going through a lot of struggle.

This struggle is also seen in their relationship;

Love also comes in the way between Kino and Juana. John Steinbeck writes, " He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders and he kicked her in the side." As you can see Kino and Juana got into an argument and rage got the best of Kino. The pearl was hurting everyone in the family. Kino got very greedy, Juana had more responsibility for everyone around her, and Coyotito was close to having his life taken away from him.

The pearl was hurting everyone in the family, so Kino had to go get it cashed for money. Steinbeck writes, " Now the dealer's hand had become a personality. The hand tossed the great pearl back in the tray, the forefinger poked and insulted it, and on the dealer's face there came a sad and contemptuous smile." This description of the dealer is Steinbeck's way of telling the reader that Kino is going to be taken advantage of. The pearl did not get the value it should have and Kino did not accept it. But once he found out that hunters were tracking him down because he killed a man, he had to go into hiding. He decided to go into the mountains with Juana and Coyotito, but soon tragedy would happen.

So we can see that the pearl could have helped Kino and Juana in many ways. But instead, the pearl brought evil. It is just like society today. You have a ton of luck to find something and if you take opportunities for granted and get greedy over them, they will be taken away from you. It is just how the world works. Just think, would you keep an evil thing and put your family in danger if it was just for money and popularity?