The Pearl By John Steinbeck Literary Analysis

The Pearl, a vivid and climactic novel by John Steinbeck, contains literary devices to construe how each of the characters are greedy. The three characters whose actions depicted greed the most were: the doctor, Kino, and the pearl buyer. A literary device that could be used for the doctor is foreshadowing, Kino’s greed could be described with characterization, and the pearl buyer’s greediness could be described with the literary device, symbolism The author, John Steinbeck, uses foreshadowing to portray the opinions and greediness of the doctor. Later in the novel, the doctor offers to keep Kino’s pearl in his safe, which leads the reader in suspense to what is to come later, and what Kino will do with the offer. “Do you keep the pearl in a safe place? Perhaps you would like me to put it in my safe?” ( Steinbeck 34). This is just one example of how the author uses foreshadowing in the story, The Pearl. The doctor’s attempt to try and convince Kino to let him keep the pearl in his safe was greedy because the doctor may have just kept the pearl to himself and maybe would not have given it back to Kino, knowing it was very valuable. Not only did the author use literary devices to describe

These three characters became greedy after each of them wanted to do something different with the pearl. The doctor wanted to keep the pearl in his safe, probably knowing it was valuable. Kino wanted to keep the pearl whether or not it was bringing evil to his family. Finally, the pearl buyer was attempting to convince Kino that the pearl was worthless and they tried getting the pearl for less money than it was actually worth. Overall, three literary devices were used to describe the greediness of three different characters. Foreshadowing helped explain the greediness of the doctor, characterization for Kino, and symbolism for the pearl