Comparing Greed In The Pearl And Occupation

Most people relate greed to negativity, but is it? To have a dream requires everyone to be greedy at one point in their lives. You can relate this concept to a large company, like Disney or Walmart. When Walt Disney was building his empire, he would want the best. The best employees, locations, the best animators. Isn’t that, in a sense, greed? To want the best? Greed feeds dreams, dreams feed passion, and passion leads to reality. Both stories, The Pearl and Occupation: Conductorette, follow this path of greed. The only difference is what the characters chose to accomplish with it. In Occupation: Conductorette Marguerite Johnson has the dream of becoming a conductorette and she was willing to do anything to get it. She was faced with

Her mother gave her this advice when she needed it the most “Life is going to give you just what you put into it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait”( Angelou 146). Her mother supported her through this process and this gave Marguerite new determination to keep going. Finally, the people gave in and let her have the job of her dreams, so Marguerite gave up her greed. Kino had Juana to help him get through his trials. “ He shrugged his shoulders helplessly then, but he had taken strength from her” (Steinbeck 78). Through all of Kino’s greed Juana stayed with him and supported him, even when they lost their child because of it. It was this event that snapped Kino out of the universe that his greed gave him and back into reality. It was then when he gave up his greed and threw away the pearl. The characters in these stories use the power of greed in very different ways. Marguerite uses it to achieve what she was trying so hard to accomplish, then she let it go. On the other hand, Kino let greed overcome him and let it control his decisions. Greed is not always evil, it can fuel your drive to succeed. All that matters is how you choose to use