The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a novella about greed and sacrifice between a natural treasure and his family. The story begins peacefully, but the tranquility soon becomes threatened after the first main event in the plot occurs. The aforementioned first event occured when the scorpion bites the baby, Coyotito, in his hanging box. This feeds into the next point when they visit the doctor and he declines their visit because of their race and inability to pay for treatment. Later into the plot, Kino beats Juana and kills a man for the pearl which results in them all having to run away from the town. As the family is on their journey, the trackers are at their location and shoot Coyotito in the head after they mistake him for a coyote.