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Theme of novel the pearl by john steinbeck
Themes evident in the pearl by John Steinbeck
Themes evident in the pearl by John Steinbeck
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“ ... Juana stared at him with wide unfrightened eyes like a sheep before the butcher. She knew there was murder in him…” This shows that the pearl is taking over kino and that the pearl is bad. He killed a man due to the fact that the
“Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over you”. This quote describes how money and “stuff” can’t bring happiness. This is a story about a local fisherman named Kino who must team up with Juana, his wife, and Coyotito, his son, to overcome greed and jealousy and all people infected by it. The symbols, including the pearl, the town members and even Kino himself, represent greed and anger. So, In The Pearl by John Steinbeck develops the theme “greed and materialism can lead to immoral behavior like violence” through Kino’s infatuation with his pearl.
Towards the end of the story, Kino begins to understand the appalling symbol that the Pearl really represents. By this point, his only son, Coyotito has been slaughtered as a result of people 's greed for it. Kino’s conclusive visions in the Pearl are ghastly, which are visible in the quote: “...In the surface of the Pearl he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away...the Pearl was ugly; it was gray, like a malignant growth”(89). Outside factors are affecting the Pearl’s image, eventually destroying the good. Finally realizing the disgusting nature of the Pearl, Kino throws it into the ocean ending the Pearl’s presence in the story.
The Pearl is a book written by John Steinbeck. The main character, Kino, found a pearl that would make his wife, Juana, and his child, Coyotito, wealthy. Kino needs to sell the pearl to get this money, but none of the pearl buyers will give him a reasonable price. Kino thought his find would bring happiness to his family, but instead it gave them a great deal of sadness. The theme in The Pearl is that a dream is good until it begins to destroy the other things of value in a person’s life.
He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders” (Steinbeck 58 and 59). This piece of evidence shows that the evil within the pearl has caused Kino to strike his wife, which is something he never would have done before. He was so worried about losing the pearl and all of its promises, that he brought pain and harm into his family’s
This quote states that Kino won’t give up the pearl because he has become greedy. One of the reasons why Kino is a tragic hero is because he is greedy. “My son will go to school...we will be married... we will
When Kino heard about the pearl, it was called “the pearl that might be” meaning that the pearl could exist, but it is not one hundred percent positive that it actually existed. Kino knew that if he found that pearl that he could pay for his son to be healed. Stories from the natives proved it was a folktale, or just a legend. Juana even prayed for him to find the pearl. The next time that Kino went to search for pearls he found “the pearl that might be” in a large clam shell.
Kino wanted to sell the pearl so his son Coyotito could have a good life and education, he could own a gun, so he and Juana could have a real wedding, but soon after Kino’s love for his begins to change. ¨He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side¨ (Steinbeck 59). After
When Kino says "this pearl has become my soul. If I give it up I shall lose my soul" it shows that the pearl has changed Kino to be paranoid and jealous. He thought that when he found the pearl, his life would change and he could become rich and raise his child well, but this is not what happened. The pearl changed him for the worse. Kino has sacrificed his free will to the pearl and will do anything to protect it .
They search him for the pearl as fast as they can,but found nothing because Kino accidentally drops the pearl from his hand while he is getting attacked by burglars. Not only was this happening, but at the same time more attackers were searching the house and the baby box. After not finding anything they decide to burn the house and to destroy the family canoe. This is a tragic moment for them because they have
(65). As Kino’s house burns down the neighbors wonder whether r Kino and his family are inside, Kino can even hear all of the worried voices. If the same circumstance would have taken place at the beginning of the story, when Kino was a more honest man, he would have come out from his brother’s brush house and said that he and his family were fine, and maybe even take responsibility for killing the dead man next to the brush house. However, because Kino becomes corrupted by the power that the pearl gives him, he becomes dishonest, hides and runs away. The influence of the pearl degrades him, from a state of honesty to a state of corruption and he ends up bringing misery to himself, to his family and even to
‘When we sell it at last, I will have a rifle,’ he said, and he looked into the shining surface for his rifle, but he saw only a huddled dark body on the ground with shining blood dripping from its throat.” (Steinbeck, 72). This shows that pearls can’t destroy people, but people can. Kino was using the pearl for his own benefit. He even killed for the pearl.
When someone comes into their house in the night, Kino’s first reaction is to save the pearl, not Juana and Coyotito. When he stabs the person he gave up his freedom, his family, and all of his possessions. ”’Let us destroy it before it destroys us… Let us throw it back in the sea where it belongs. Kino, it is evil, it is evil’... ‘No,’ he said. ‘I will fight this thing.
The book The Pearl by John Steinbeck relates to my own life in the sense that I have witnessed the evils that money brings. In the beginning, Kino is very poor, so poor that he cannot afford to take his son to the doctor when a scorpion stung him. He was so poor that the doctor would not even agree to see him. Then later on Kino finds a pearl the size of a sea-gull’s egg; it was so wonderful that the people of the village called it, “the Pearl of the World”(Steinbeck 23). As a result, Kino and his family started to get a lot of attention, and ultimately someone tried to steal the pearl from them during the night.
In today’s failing school system something has to be done to improve student performance and motivation. One method that has great potential for doing this is paying students for good performance and grades. It will give the students incentive to do better, it will teach students to work harder to achieve these good grades, and it will teach the students that there are rewards for making good choices in life. Other people believe that if you bribe or motivate kids with money for good grades then that kid will automatically expect rewards for everything that he or she does. Diane Ravitch argues that students in India, Korea, and Japan spend thousands of dollars and attend after school classes to boost their chances for college admission (1).
