The Pearl is a fiction novella written by John Steinbeck which describes the struggle of a man striving to gain equality, and is given hope when he discovers a beautiful pearl. Throughout the story, it is repeated many times that he is trying to be cheated, bribed, and tricked, mainly by people who are of a higher social class, just to get this one pearl or the money that comes from it. This story takes place in La Paz, Mexico. Ironically, the name La Paz translates to “peace,” even though what goes on in La Paz is anything but peaceful. It is also implied to be a fishing city, as it is located near the Gulf of Mexico, and the main character, Kino, owns a canoe for pearl diving. Many people in La Paz are very poor, and uneducated, which leads them to be deceived and tricked …show more content…
In the start of the narrative, Kino is seen as a family man, caring about his wife Juana, and son. However after finding the pearl, his personality takes a drastic turn, and he turns cold, driven by his belief that the pearl will be the object that gets rid of the oppression that surrounds his family. Even when it is obvious that having the pearl is dangerous, he still holds onto it, which causes many unfortunate things to happen to him and his family. The main conflict that Kino is trying to defeat is that he is constantly oppressed, and he wants to get to a higher social position, as he is on the bottom, being a Native American Indian. He believes that if he can rise to a higher social class, he won’t be as oppressed as he was in the beginning. Throughout this novella, Kino is shown to be a victim because he is constantly oppressed, and all he wants is his son to get a proper education, but it seems that everyone is going against him, preventing him from getting to his