The Pearl Greed

“The Pearl” by John Steinbeck, truly has a great example to the life lesson on greed. A family destroyed and a culture distressed is what one can see in the short story, “The Pearl.” Greed plays an important role in the lesson of “The Pearl,” in which John Steinbeck uses imagery and foreshadowing to highlight this theme and he utilizes personification and similes/metaphors to explain the theme easily.

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.

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 The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck, the main character, Kino, has to take care of his family amidst the his poverty when things take a turn for the worse when Kino’s son gets bitten by a scorpion. While seeking a way of payment for a doctor, Kino discovers the Pearl of the World, which leads to his the people of his and the town seeing him in a different way. All of the events in the story lead to the progression of the view of Kino’s character from Animal, to Man, and then back to animal through the eyes of these peers.

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.

In a small town called La Paz, a pearl diver named Kino life turns upside down after the promise of imminent wealth is brought to him. The story of The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck, is a story that swerves left and right, and revolves around greed. With many examples of foreshadowing, imagery, and characterization, John Steinbeck shows many ways that greed can be influential. Greed is like violence, it’s evil and overtakes anything else. John Steinbeck shows this in many ways whether it be how greed can change someone, in literary techniques, and how greed has changed Kino and his family.

In The Pearl, the main life lesson Steinbeck writes about is to not be greedy. Kino, the main character, finds an unrealistically large pearl that forever changes his life. Kino and his family were happy before they found the pearl. Juana, Kino’s wife, sensed that the pearl was a bad sign. Juana said, “Kino, this pearl is evil.

In fact, it says, “…the best and happiest pearl buyer was he who bought for the lowest prices.” The buyers definitely wanted to cheat Kino out of a deal. Were they malicious men? Probably not, but the greed changed them for a day to make them such. If Kino had sold the pearl to them for a fair price, the end of the story would not have been as awful, and the last few chapters would have been ones of peace, and Kino getting all he wanted.

People are fascinated to other wealthy and powerful people. They honor the way they live, the power they have, and the significant things they own. In The Pearl, John Stienbeck divulges this magnetism through the characters and events. Three main characters unambiguously show how power can control a situation; Kino who values the pearl, the doctor who covets the pearl, and the neighbors whom are obsessed with the pearl.

In “The pearl” by John Steinbeck, there are lots of greedy people who want the pearl “The Pearl” is about a man named Kino who is very poor and finds the pearl of the world which will make him rich. In this short story Steinbeck shows that materialism and greed left unchecked can lead to immoral behavior through three main points. Three attackers who jump Kino trying to find the pearl, Kino himself who hurts people trying to protect it, and the doctor who is the most unlikely to be greedy. In the short story, Kino finds a pearl that he thinks will fix all of his problems, but it is only the start of them.

Prompt: In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the main character Kino finds “the pearl of the world,” only to suffer horribly afterwards. Is the pearl evil? Was Kino “greedy” for keeping it? Support your assertions with specific examples from the text.

Literature, when done well, has always had the power to bring to life stories that in some way mirror human tendencies. Throughout John Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl, he illustrates how something as pure as the importance of family can be poisoned by greed and hate.

In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, one of the themes is greed, because of the way Kino was possessive of the pearl and how the town all wanted possession of the pearl. Greed is an unavoidable, universal human characteristic. No matter how much you may hide it, you always have a voice in the back of your head saying “I want it.” Greed is the feeling you get when someone has something you want, and you will take extreme measure to get it. Sadly greed is not the best emotion, greed can often drive people crazy and it almost always never ends well for the participating parties. Throughout The Pearl, all of the characters have shown some sign of greed because of this it is one of the themes of this book.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck has the universal theme of greed throughout the book. It is shown many times and is the most recognizable in the book. From the time Kino finds the pearl to the resolution it sets loose a river of greed from other people trying to get what he has. Even Kino becomes blind from greed and ends up hurting his family. It is shown when the pearl buyers try to undercut the price of Kino’s pearl. It is also shown when everyone is in his hut right after he finds the pearl including the doctor and the priest. Both of these examples are fueled by greed.

‘The Pearl’, by John Steinbeck has been a very touching, interesting novella to read. It originally appeared in the ‘Woman’s Home Companion’ Magazine in 1945. Set in a Mexican Indian village, the novella tells the story of Kino, a pearl diver who discovers the beautiful ‘Pearl of the World’. Upon finding this large, expensive pearl Kino changes as a person and has a desire to be rich and to change his everyday life. Unfortunately, this disruption in the usual day to day routines causes more trouble than the pearl is worth. Throughout the novella there are two main themes, one being the destructive power of greed, and the other