- Greed as a Destructive Force. As Kino seeks to gain wealth and status through the pearl, he transforms from a happy, contented father to a savage criminal, demonstrating the way ambition and greed destroy innocence. ...
- The Roles of Fate and Agency in Shaping Human Life. ...
- Colonial Society's Oppression of Native Cultures.
What is the Pearl novella about?
The Pearl portrays two contrasting forces that shape human life and determine individual destiny. The novella depicts a world in which, for the most part, humans shape their own destinies. They provide for themselves, follow their own desires, and make their own plans. At the same time, forces beyond human control, such as chance, accident, and the gods, can sweep in at any moment and, for good or ill, completely change the course of an individual’s life. If fate is best represented in the novella by the open sea where pearl divers plunge beneath the waves hoping for divine blessings, human agency is best represented by the village of La Paz, where myriad human desires, plans, and motives come together to form civilization.
What happens to Kino and Juana?
Kino and Juana’s lives change irreparably the moment the scorpion, a symbol of malignant fate, bites their child. Their lives then change irreparably again the moment Kino finds the pearl, a symbol of beneficent fate. Nevertheless, it is not fate but human agency, in the form of greed, ambition, and violence, that facilitates ...
How does Kino gain wealth?
As Kino seeks to gain wealth and status through the pearl, he transforms from a happy, contented father to a savage criminal, demonstrating the way ambition and greed destroy innocence . Kino’s desire to acquire wealth perverts the pearl’s natural beauty and good luck, transforming it from a symbol of hope to a symbol of human destruction. Furthermore, Kino’s greed leads him to behave violently toward his wife; it also leads to his son’s death and ultimately to Kino’s detachment from his cultural tradition and his society. Kino’s people seem poised for a similar destruction, as the materialism inherent in colonial capitalism implants a love of profit into the simple piety of the native people.
Why does the doctor refuse to save Coyotito's life?
The doctor who refuses to save Coyotito’s life at the beginning of the novel because Kino lacks the money to pay him represents colonial arrogance and oppression. Snide and condescending, the doctor displays an appallingly limited and self-centered mind-set that is made frightening by his unshakable belief in his own cultural superiority over Kino, and by the power that he holds to save or destroy lives. Steinbeck implicitly accuses the doctor’s entire colonial society of such destructive arrogance, greed, and ambition. The European colonizers that govern Kino and the native people are shown to bring about the destruction of the native society’s innocence, piety, and purity.
What are the themes of the Pearl?
The Pearl Themes. T he main themes in The Pearl are good versus evil, knowledge versus ignorance, and individuals versus society. Good versus evil : Kino begins the novel blissfully unaware of the evil in the world. However, after discovering the pearl, he is exposed to all manners of greed and corruption. Knowledge versus ignorance : Kino is ...
What is the Pearl of the World?
Kino and Juana have fallen from innocence; the Pearl of the World is akin to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their final tragic position somehow seems more worthy of respect than their earlier, untried ignorance. In developing his parable, Steinbeck was possibly influenced by the medieval English allegory Pearl.
What does Juana say about the pearl?
Juana says, “The pearl is like a sin! It will destroy us.”. However, the pearl, by releasing new possibilities to Kino, has made him “a man,” and when he drops the pearl during the struggle, Juana recognizes that she must restore it to him.
What is Kino's belief in evil?
Kino's belief that evil is in the night is not unusual. But one of his many foibles is that he sees himself alone in a world of struggle between good and evil. He does his best to keep good coming his way. In his mind he hears the music of his personal struggle.
What do the Doctor, Priest, and Pearl Buyer do?
Knowledge and Ignorance. The Doctor, the Priest, and The Pearl Buyer do their part to keep the peasants ignorant and docile. They use whatever methods they can to accomplish this—financial instability, religious ceremonies and threats of eternal damnation, or lack of economic choice.
Who was Steinbeck's friend?
Download The Pearl Study Guide. Subscribe Now. Like his good friend Ed Ricketts, a marine biologist with whom he first visited the Gulf of California in 1940, Steinbeck saw human beings teleologically as part of the animal order. At one point, he describes La Paz affirmatively as “a colonial animal.”.
What does the pearl represent in the book?
The pearl. The pearl is a symbol of wealth which is quite ambivalent in its nature throughout the novel. When Kino first finds the pearl, it is a symbol of hope and salvation. The pearl and what it holds of wealth represents a great potential for the family and so their ambitions grow big.
What happened to Kino in The Pearl?
However the pearl drives Kino crazy with greed and as a result he loses his blissful relationship with his wife and ultimately loses his son.
What is the ambition of Kino?
However, in the novel ambition is a sin punishable by a higher power and is a reason behind Kino’s downfall. Kino desires to rise into superiority by giving his child a good education and having new clothes for him and his wife, all of those are innocent dreams of a poor man in a rich man’s world.
What is the scorpion in the movie?
The scorpion is a form of foreshadowing as well as a symbol of the evil that is yet to come into Kino’s life. The scorpion sneaks into the family’s home in attempts to take away their most valuable possession, their son. This is a foreshadowing of the many town’s people who are filled with poisonous envy and evil as they sneak into Kino’s home to steal the pearl and poison his life.
What does the pearl symbolize in the book?
The Pearl. Throughout the novel, the pearl lends itself to being a complex and complicated symbol. From the exposition to the climax, the pearl’s meaning changes. In the beginning it seems to symbolize fate, fortune, and good luck. However, by the end it is coveted and represents all the evil and greed in the world.
What is the difference between symbols and motifs?
Symbols are correctly identified as objects that represent something else at a higher level in the story. Motifs are correctly identified as important recurring features or ideas in the story. Most themes are correctly identified, but others are missing or incomplete.
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Greed as A Destructive Force
- As Kino seeks to gain wealth and status through the pearl,he transforms from a happy, contented father to a savage criminal,demonstrating the way ambition and greed destroy innocence. Kino’s desireto acquire wealth perverts the pearl’s natural beauty and good luck,transforming it from a symbol of hope to a symbol of human destruction.Furthermore, Kino’s greed leads him to behav…
The Roles of Fate and Agency in Shaping Human Life
- The Pearlportrays two contrasting forcesthat shape human life and determine individual destiny. The novelladepicts a world in which, for the most part, humans shape theirown destinies. They provide for themselves, follow their own desires,and make their own plans. At the same time, forces beyond humancontrol, such as chance, accident, and the gods, can sweep in atany mome…
Colonial Society’s Oppression of Native Cultures
- The doctor who refuses to save Coyotito’s life at thebeginning of the novel because Kino lacks the money to pay him representscolonial arrogance and oppression. Snide and condescending, thedoctor displays an appallingly limited and self-centered mind-setthat is made frightening by his unshakable belief in his own culturalsuperiority over Kino, and by the power that he holds to sav…
The Individual and The Community
- In writing The Pearl, Steinbeck transformed the Mexican folk legend he had heard during his travels, changing the specifics of the protagonist and his community to address more universal themes. In Steinbeck’s reworking of the tale, the protagonist is not a footloose teenage diver, but a more mature man with obligations to others. Kinois a married man with a child, but his identit…
Luck and Chance
- While The Pearlis deeply concerned with moral issues, Steinbeck also addresses metaphysical issues in the novella. A branch of philosophy, metaphysics examines the nature of reality, and includes such topics as causality, free will, and the meaning of existence. In presenting the assumptions, beliefs, and actions of Kino, Juana, and the villagers, Steinbeck explores the role o…
Change and The Social Order
- The tragedy at the heart of The Pearl—the exile of Juana and Kino and the subsequent death of their son Coyotito—arises from Kino’s determination to challenge the prevailing social order. Of the visions Kino sees gleaming in the pearl’s lustrous surface the most compelling is that which transcends his own personal interests. The pearl brings out Kino’s greatest desire: that the abus…