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Analysis Of The Pearl By John Steinbeck

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The Pearl novella was written by John Steinbeck. The story is set in a small village called La Paz, Mexico on the coast of the Baja Peninsula. It is set sometime after World War II, late 1940’s. During that time countries were recovering from the war. Nations had to rebuild from the damage. Soldiers were moving back home and getting married and having more children. This was the start of the ‘baby boomer’ era. An anonymous narrator uses third-person omniscient to tell the story. This means that the narrator can tell the story as well as different perspectives of the characters. They will be able to feel what the character is feeling and know what they are thinking. Kino, the protagonist, is caring, and loves his family, his son, …show more content…

One morning Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion. The parents go to local doctor to see if he can help ease the pain for Coyotito. The doctor rejects them because they are natives and cannot pay enough money. The next day they go out in their heirloom canoe to go diving for pearls. Juana prays that Kino will find a large pearl and he does. He goes into town to try and sell it to make some money to buy things for himself and his family. Everything is great until someone tries to steal it and after a second person tries to steal it things went too far. Kino’s temper is getting worse and he strikes. In this story we follow what Kino and his family does to keep their safety. This is a story of hope, greed, evil and grief. When Kino kills a man for trying to steal his pearl is the climax. A major theme of this book is greed. Kino wants to sell the pearl to make money so he can buy things for he and his family. He wants a rifle, a harpoon, for Coyotito to be able to read and be educated, and to be properly married to Juana in a church. The author uses the scorpion, the pearl and Kino’s canoe as symbolism. Some imagery Steinbeck uses is how he describes nature and the songs and music that Kino and his family hear. I would recommend this book. I liked the village that they lived in because it was a fishing community and I once lived in a very small fishing community so that kind of connected with me as if the story could have happened in real

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