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The Pearl Symbolism Essay

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Recommended: Discuss kino as a victim of circumstances in the novel The Pearl

The Pearl is a Symbol

The pearl is not only the title of the book but also the largest symbol of the entire book. The pearl changes its meaning thought out the course of the book. The pearl portrays a symbol of hope and then the most terrifying symbol of destruction. Although the pearl is mentioned several times but it is always indicated in different ways. In the beginning of the book it mentions the pearl as being able to make a new life for Kino. In the first chapter of the book Kino 's son, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion and has to be taken to the doctor. The doctor refuses to treat the child without proper treatment. When Kino offered up eight ugly grey pearls as payment he was denied help from the doctor. From this I learned that …show more content…

The Pearl over took Kino 's life. The once content and loving man has become greedy. His spiritual ideals were out away and replaced with the need of money and objects. When Kino thought this way he was giving into the colonial life style. The colonists strived for more and now that Kino is blessed with this majestic item he is blinded by a craving to be better than his surroundings. The Pearl is causing Kino to turn into one of the men he despised in the beginning of the book. In the beginning the doctor was selfish and won 't help Coyotito unless he was well paid. This enraged Kino because all the doctor cared about was his income. When Kino was put into a position where he had that chance to change his way of life he leaped at the opportunity. When he was offered money for the pearl Kino believed his pearl wasn 't worthy of any of the low offers. In some ways that was causing Kino to act more and more like the doctor. In one way the pearl symbolized how it could change a simple man into a greedy monster. As the symbol of the pearl change so did Kino. When the pearl represented hope kino was hopeful. Once others were jealous of the pearls value Kino became greedy and only interested in the objects wealth. When the others became desperate for the pearl Kino had to kill a man in self defense. Kino 's action made him desperate to get away from the town and to

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Their reason was simple: Kino had found the ‘Pearl of the World”. Kino looks deep into the pearl to see the glories and bright future for him and his family: he properly weds Juana, sends Coyotito to a good school, and lives a successful life. The doctor accepts to treating Coyotito, which gives the couple some worry. Kino repeatedly buries and unearths the pearl which gives Juana some concern. Later Kino sees a person near his hut, assumes it is a thief, attacks, and fails to catch the entity.

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Pearl, throughout the book, shows everyone in a new light. Through the eyes of a child, filled with understanding. Wanting to learn more about the people around her, lets us also get to read more of them in depth. Making Pearl essential to the book, from her birth giving the main plot of the story, to her being treated by the millionairess elders of the town, and finally being awaken into the new world, through so many deaths.

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There are many ways in which Pearl serves as a symbol, whether it’s the way she dresses, or the vehement attitude which seems to reflect the adulterous act in which she was conceived. Functioning as a symbol in multiple ways, Pearl catches the attention of many. One way that the young girl is symbolic is how she constantly serves as a reminder of her mothers passion. Her mother, Hester, realizes this during the first

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The reason that Kino and Juana went searching for something of value was because Coyotito needed to be healed by the doctor. Once they found the “wonderful” pearl there was no longer a use for it. Juana’s seaweed cure had worked and now there was no need for the pearl. Kino only wanted to use it for things that weren’t necessary such as a wedding with Juana, with whom he was already married, and a rifle which he didn’t

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The power of greed can destroy people and their wonderful and simple lives. It is not a physical power that physically kills you but rather a power that gets in your soul and destroys you from the inside. Greed is shown throughout The Pearl. The author showed greed throughout the book by using foreshadowing, symbolism, and characterization. John Steinbeck, the author, used all of these devices to show that greed was able to take over people 's souls and change their state of minds because of the pearl’s ability to change people.

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In chapter two, Kino is tries to find a pearl for the doctor's payment. While he's doing that, she “gathered some brown seaweed and made a flat damp poultice of it” (20) for Coyotito’s swollen arm.

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In the first twenty stanzas, the Pearl author describes the Pearl in a mournful adoration. Early on, he falls into a sleep and dreams about a maiden adorned in pearls and in her bosom, a large pearl, the one he has searched and mourned for. He calls out to the Pearl, relating his emptiness he has held since he lost it. But soon, we discover that the Pearl indeed has more than an earthly quality to it. As many discovered, the author might have written this about his daughter.

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One simple pearl can ruin many lives. There are only good and bad things in the book. The theme in John Steinbeck's book, The Pearl illustrates how good and evil affect the plot, how Steinbeck prompts good and evil, and how good can turn into bad. In the book, good and evil can affect the plot of the story. For example, Kino was very intimidating at the end of the book, "

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“Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, and Kino’s pearl went into the dreams, the speculations, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers of everyone, and the only person that stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man’s enemy.” (page 23). This quote states that everyone envies Kino and wants the pearl’s wealth for himself or herself. Later in the book, one of these people will try to take the pearl. This will cause Kino to try to protect the pearl at all costs.

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It is now he, not the sellers, who has the power to decide if he is going to sell the pearl or not. As Kino holds the pearl in his own bare hands, he has the courage to say that he is not selling the pearl. He is being cheated by the buyers, and is willing to not sell the pearl in the town, but to even risk his life by travelling to the capital for a higher price...which, would foreshadow Kino’s development of lack of honesty. Kino becomes savage he receives the pearls power. He begins to shows violence towards those he loves to save the pearl: “He stuck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side” (59).

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Kino loves his family but lets the greed of money get the best of him. Kino’s priorities are on target when Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion. Kino shows his love for his family by not only killing the scorpion but beating it to death. This showed his family that Kino cares deeply for his son.

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