John Steinbeck Thesis

The loss of innocence John Steinbeck’s book, The Pearl, is about a Mexican pearl diver, Kino, and his family. The story is told through the eyes of an outside narrator about his journey with “The Pearl of the World.” The main character is Kino, who is hardworking and desperate to support his family. In the book, the author uses revealing actions to show that disappointment and greed can make a man forget his purpose. Kino started as a family man, but by the end of the book, he was controlled by the greed he felt in his heart.

Of all the symbols that are in Steinbeck’s story, the pearl of the world is the most important because of its direct impact on Kino, Juana, and Coyotito. The Pearl is about a poor diver, Kino, who gathers pearls for a living. Then, on a day like any other, Kino comes to the surface of the sea with a pearl as large as a seagull’s egg. Kino thought it would be a source of wealth, hope, and comfort, whereas it was actually the evil that destroyed their family.

I. John Steinbeck used his personal experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

John Steinbeck’s The Pearl follows the story of a Mexican-Indian family who lived in a small village on the coast of the Baja peninsula during the colonial era in Mexico. Kino works tirelessly as a pearl diver to provide for his wife, Juana, and Coyotito, his son. Although he was poor, he and his wife were initially satisfied with their lives. However, Coyotito’s scorpion sting and the discovery of the Pearl of the World opened Kino’s eyes to a much larger world. His simple, peaceful life was marred by the violence and conflict that the pearl brought. The pearl, which incited greed in all who come in contact with it, changed from a symbol of hope to that of chaos and misfortune.

In this novella, I developed a thesis statement, which is: The pearl kept Kino moving forward because it represented hope during a period in his life. I chose this thesis statement because one of the aspects that makes this story move forward is Kino’s hope and greed; even if this greed is based on his hope. Steinbeck quotes: “Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so he became curiously everyman’s enemy” (Steinbeck, 27).

Greed is perhaps one of the most destructive forces in this world, it breeds anger, hate, jealousy, and more. The novella “The Pearl” is based on how the finding of a pearl causes greed to be awakened in the hearts of people and cause them to commit evil. During the Novella, Steinbeck develops the theme that greed left unchecked can cause immoral behavior and that is show in the doctor, the attackers, and Kino. All of them are forced by greed to commit sins that they otherwise would not do.

Kino was attacked by mean trying to steal the pearl. He killed one of them in self-defense but Juana tells him that does not matter. He will still face consequences from the townspeople once the body is found in the morning.

	 John Steinbeck was a famous American author who wrote from the 1920 to the 1940. Steinbeck was constantly moving across the country trying to succeed as a writer. John Steinbeck lived a life of constant up and downs, successes and failures before he landed on his feet and became a famous author.

“It is true that we are weak and sick and ugly and quarrelsome but if that is all we ever were, we would millenniums ago have disappeared from the face of the earth.” John Steinbeck said this of all humankind. He thought highly of us as a species, just as Dr. Stockmann did in Henrik Ibsen’s play Enemy of the People. Both men had problems in their societies, Stockmann in his town and Steinbeck in America, and both believed that humans were capable of seeing the problem and fixing it. The rest of the population did not see this as the case. They believed he was an enemy of the people and a threat to their way of life. Because of how Steinbeck expressed his views, people felt threatened by what he wrote and they called him a threat to

Every great writer had their own influences, John Steinbeck was no exception. Steinbeck’s influences cam from family, friends, and his environment to write detailed descriptions to involve or influence the reader. Whenever someone reads one of John Steinbeck’s works they are in immersed in the scene he is describing, he makes you feel as if you are right there experiencing everything there first hand.

John Steinbeck was an American novelist who is Pulitzer Prize winning novel the grapes of wrath portrayed the The image of immigrant workers during the Great Depression.

John Steinbeck, the author of 26 novels, was one of the most prolific and popular American writers of the twentieth century. Steinbeck was the first and only western American novelist to both win the Nobel Prize and top the bestseller list. The peak of his career came with the publication of his masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath (1939). The novel won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and also generated controversy over its portrayal of California's sometimes-merciless agricultural world, as well as its so-called "vulgar" language and socialist bias. A novel that encouraged the ideas of realism and called for social protest, The Grapes of Wrath highlights

After discovering the pearl, however, Kino begins to dream of possibilities for his family, most importantly an education for his son, which was something he previously never thought of as he considered it absolutely out of reach. His dreams gradually start becoming more and more materialistic as he stares at the pearl’s surface. Consequently, he drifts apart from his culture and family customs, he escapes town and ends up killing a man, being inherently deceived by the pearl. When he returns to the village, wrecked by the death of his son, he first offers Juana the chance to throw the pearl into the sea. This indicates that he has learned to value her sense of judgement and is, in a sense, yielding to her. But she insists on Kinoo throwing the pearl into the sea instead and that shows that she remains faithful to their previous alignment of life and as always, seek and strives s to preserve

The pearl's evil infects Kino like a ravaged disease and consumes his mind. He starts off with good intentions, but they become twisted. He wants to sell the pearl and use the money to better his family's lifestyle. He has dreams and goals that each depends on the pearl selling for a good price. Juana sensing the evil and greed coming from Kino attempts to destroy it. Kino beats her unmercifully. "He struck her in the face and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side...He hissed at her like a snake and she stared at him with wide unfrightened eyes, like a sheep before a butcher." Juana sees through the outer beauty of the pearl and knew it would destroy Kino and herself. Kino's vision from the soul becomes blurred by the possible prosperity the pearl will bring. The evil invades Kino's life as well as everyone he knows and loves.

Another example of greed is shown when Juana takes the pearl from Kino to throw back into the sea. Kino realizes what she is doing and goes after her. Just as Juana is about to discard the pearl, Kino grabs her arm and wrenches the pearl from her. He punches her in the face and when she falls on the boulders, he kicks her in the side. The following quote establishes the violence that Kino unleases on his wife in order to protect his precious pearl from harm, due to his greediness of what the pearl will bring to him and his family: “…Rage surged in Kino. He leaped at Juana and wrenched the pearl from her…with clenched fists, struck her in the face…kicked her in the side…Greedy fingers went through his clothes” (58-59).