Symbols In The Pearl By John Steinbeck

The literary devices used in the text dramatization, juxtaposition, and an array of prose styles, allow Steinbeck to intertwine symbols, cross-reference details, and implement outside commentary on narrative

Steinbeck uses suspense in “The Pearl” to make scenes more interesting and show how the characters react in their surroundings. The author uses an example of suspense when a scorpion is hanging over Coyotito’s sleeping area. He builds suspense by showing how Kino and Juana react to the conflict that is happening around them. Steinbeck uses description such as “The thorned tail jerked upright” to build tension between Kino, Juana, Coyotito, and the scorpion. The author also uses songs to build suspense in his story. While tension is being built by the scorpion and how Kino is reacting, he adds the “song of evil” which is what Kino is hearing while the problem is occurring around them. This is

     John Steinbeck uses symbolism to give alternate meanings to his short story “Chrysanthemums.'; A symbol is a device used to suggest more than its literary meaning. He uses these symbols to look further into the characters and their situations. The character Elisa has a garden, which is more than just a garden, and the chrysanthemums that she tends are more than just flowers. There are actions that she performs in the story, which also have other meanings.

In this novella, lots of different symbols are used to help create a better understanding of what the author is trying to tell the reader. For example, Steinbeck uses symbolism at the beginning of the story when he says “Uh-uh, Jus’ a dead mouse, George. I didn’t kill it. Honest! I found it. I found it dead” (Steinbeck 5). This quote is said after Lennie tries to take the mouse out of his pocket without anybody

Typically, everyone loves a good story about a hero that beats the villain, gets the love of the town, and his dream girl. But The Pearl is different. The Pearl follows a plot diagram which is a chart that outlines the progression of the story. The hero's journey takes the concept of plotting a story a little further and deeper. In John Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl, Kino a regular town man turned hero follows the hero's journey. In this essay the 3 different stages of Kino's journey on his way to heroism, will be thoroughly addressed.

Alfred Whitehead, an English mathematician and philosopher, once said, “Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life.” In almost every story, there is some form of symbolism being used. Sometimes it is used in the characters, the setting, certain objects, the weather patterns, etc. Not only does symbolism have a great effect on the story itself, but it affects how the story is perceived. “Young Goodman Brown”, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and “The Birthmark” are all full of many forms of symbolism. The themes of these stories are shown through the symbolism of the characters, their traits, and the objects.

The use of symbolism is used in literature to enhance writing and add meaning to a story, this is evident in the two short stories “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson and “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner. With the authors use of symbolism Jackson and Faulkner are able to add depth to their writing in a way that connects with the readers. By adding symbolism to the short stories the authors manage to add meaning to inanimate objects that in the end become a crucial part to understanding the story and the lessons it contains. Without these uses of symbolism in the short stories the text would not be as compelling to the reader and not have such a strong impact on how the reader interprets the story. Whether it be a black box filled with sheets of parchment paper, a wooden stool, a simple red rose, or time itself the use of symbolism can be seen in almost all pieces of literature and is essential in creating a piece of work that readers will connect with.

Kino is beginning to realize how at first the pearl seemed to have brought fortune and good to his family, but it really had only brought evil to the family. By the end of the story, Kino and Juana have lost their son, Coyotito, and they wish things were back to the way they were before they found the pearl. Kino then throws the pearl back out into the ocean where he had found it: “And the music of the pearl drifted to a whisper and disappeared” (90). The music disappearing as the pearl sink back into the ocean symbolizes the evil leaving the family: now that the pearl has left, so has the evil. Kino now understands that their “wealth” has brought nothing but evil and has destroyed both himself as well as his family. Not only does Steinbeck use the motif of music to express the theme that good fortune, wealth, and prosperity steer even the most innocent of people towards a path of evil and corruption, but he also uses the motif of light and dark imagery.

John Steinbeck’s 1949 novella entitled Of Mice and Men uses many significant symbols to convey meanings about the human condition. Such symbols include hands to represent labour, cards to signify chance and taking a risk, and finally, rabbits to suggest ideas about achieving one’s hopes and dreams. Symbols are a key central device in delivering meaning, as they consistently repeated throughout the narrative and are typically associated with the novella’s many characters.

When “enough writers use a given object or situation in enough works, we start to recognize and understand the range of possible meanings” (Foster 242) of symbols. But, more often than not, authors chose to employ private symbols in their writings which make the meanings a bit harder to figure out and fully understand. In chapter 31 of Cannery Row, John Steinbeck creates his own private symbol of a gopher which represents both Doc and Mack in a way that is rather complex to recognize at first.

A symbol is a mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function, or process. Symbols have huge meanings in anything. Symbols can show a lot of things, such as it hinting at what may happen in the future or even a deeper meaning. Steinbeck chose symbols in OMAM because they have deeper meanings than you think. Curley’s wife, Lennie’s puppy, and the rabbits are three symbols that Steinbeck uses in OMAM.

Memory, symbol and pattern affect the reading of literature by helping to connect different ideas, that the reader may come up with, to the main story and they help the readers mind try to decipher the conflict in the story. For example, with symbolism, colors are not just colors anymore, blue becomes sorrow and red becomes anger. The recognition of patterns makes it easier to read complicated literature by seeing a reoccurring behavior or theme and tying it to the conflict or resolution of the story and setting the characters into certain categories. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck is a novel filled with all kinds of symbolism, patterns and even memories. The symbolism along with the memories in that novel

In The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, evil transforms certain humble citizens into envious savages. It is this evil which moves the story along and adds drama. It causes the beginning of a happy spirit, but the downfall of goodness and humanity.

     Novels were created to show a very naive view in great depth. The Pearl is a novel in its most complete form. Steinbeck does this by conveying life symbolically. Through symbols, John offers the reader a clearer look at life and it?s content. He shows major imagery in four ways: Kino, music, Coyotito, and the 'Pearl of the World'.

All of the village people suddenly sparked an interest in Kino once he discovered the pearl, “people with things to sell and people with favors to ask. Kino had found the Pearl of the World. . . .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 only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man's enemy” (Steinbeck 23). The pearl does not result in an immediate change in Kino’s personality, but rather how others view him. The pearl symbolizes hope, a trait that Kino previously possessed, but somewhat lost after the incident involving Coyotito’s illness. Kino’s “eyes and voice [became] hard and cold and a brooding hate was growing in him” (Steinbeck 38). At the beginning of the novel, Kino is very optimistic and positive. Therefore, when this hate begins to consume him, it is very unusual, leading us to believe that the pearl has an influence on Kino.