The Pearl: How Power Plagues the Mind Kino’s mind is corrupted by the pearl, a symbol of power. This idea, of how power corrupts, has been implemented in various books and society throughout hundreds of years. But what exactly does it mean to have power, and/or be corrupt? According to the merriam-webster dictionary, Power is the simple concept of having an influence over people, while corruption is the willingness of acting dishonestly in return for a personal favor. Kino lets the power of the pearl corrupt him and lead him to create a growing mess of careless choices, thus making him responsible for his family’s plight. From the moment the pearl falls in the hands of Kino, disaster sparks up. This is noticed by Juana, as she unsuccessfully …show more content…
Since the pearl fell in Kino’s hands, only disaster has consumed his life, he has completely lost his old life. The Kino of the beginning of the book portrayed a very different character, he was peaceful, calm, caring and hardworking. He did not realise what he was becoming until the end, when he lost his source of power, and was knocked back to reality. As soon as his power was gone, he couldn 't corrupt it anymore, bringing him back to the same place where he started off before the pearl entered his life. In conclusion, we can see how the power of the pearl has managed to corrupt Kino’s mind, and caused him to create a growing mess that he only realized at the end; because the power corrupted him, he did not realize the consequences he was creating and the people he was hurting, his mind was focused on the power itself and pushing out everything else. Because of this information, we can infer that Kino is ultimately responsible for his family’s