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John Steinbeck Sparknotes

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John Steinbeck. The Pearl. New York: Viking Press, 1947. Print.
By John Steinbeck
The Pearl is a book based on an old Mexican folk tale that involves a man, his family, and the destruction of both by a mystical pearl. The story takes place in a coastal Mexican village called La Paz. Kino, his wife Juana, and their infant son, Coyotito, reside in La Paz where they make their living off the occasional pearl that Kino is able to find. They live in a small hut just off the beach, along with the rest of the villagers. As an impoverished family, they stuggle to provide all that they wish to provide for Coyotito.

As a father, Kino yearns for nothing more than to provide his son with a good life and a decent education. Poor and unlucky, Kino searches …show more content…

As the thieves become more and more of a threat, Kino fears the loss of the pearl, his wife and son’s lives, and even his own life. After a full day of evading the thieves, Kino, Juana, and Coyotito find a cave to hide in until they are presented with an opportunity to escape. The thieves do not appear to be leaving anytime soon, so Kino decides to leave the cave and sneak down to attack them. Just as he is about to make his attack, he hears a noise. The thieves hear the noise too, and raise their rifles in the direction of the noise and fire. Just as they fire their rifles, Kino attacks and kills them. As the chaos dies down and the night returns to silence, Kino hears Juana let out a blood-curdling scream. He returns to the cave to find out that the sound that alerted the thieves was his son, Coyotito. The bullet shot by the thieves hit the infant in the skull and killed him. Kino’s blind hunger to attain the wealth needed to provide his son with a proper education, resulted in the death of his only son and his dreams died with him. Kino and Juana return to their home village with broken hearts and broken dreams. Despite the depressing nature of this book, I believe it to be one of the best books I’ve ever

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