Comparing John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

While reading John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, I noticed numerous similarities to Of Mice and Men. The first one being the strong emphasis on the importance of family. In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie were basically family, seeing as how George never failed to protect Lennie, even when Lennie got into trouble. For instance, when Lennie caused a commotion in Weed, George stuck by him, helping him escape. In The Pearl, Kino struggles to provide for Juana and Coyotito. I think that Kino was so persistent to keep the pearl because he knew that with it, he would be able to send Coyotito to school and have a real wedding with Juana. With the pearl Kino felt that he could protect his family. In the end, the pearl ended up tearing apart the very thing he was trying to protect, his family. Similarly, in Of Mice and Men, with George’s strong intent to protect Lennie, he was forced to kill Lennie. Contrasting with Of Mice and Men, I do feel that Coyotito’s death was not necessarily caused by a will to protect, but it was

For me, In The Pearl, the pearl is equal to George and Lennie’s job in Of Mice and Men. The major difference between George and Kino, is that George would give up his job for Lennie in a heartbeat. However, when Juana tried to get rid of the pearl, Kino went so far as to hit her. Not long after that, did Kino kill someone, and his home was burnt to the ground. When Kino stopped Juana, it wasn’t out of love, it was out of greed. He knew the pearl had already caused problems, and he kept it out of sheer avarice. If George thought Lennie was in any danger whatsoever, he would have destroyed the pearl the first chance he got. To me, the most apparent difference between the two novels, is that in The Pearl, Kino’s love and need to protect his family became obscured with greed. George however, always had Lennie’s best interest in