The Pearl Greed Essay

The “Pearl”, by John Steinbeck is a novella that includes a middle-aged, impoverished fisherman named Kino, his wife Juana, and their infant son, Coyotito. While fishing one day, the couple comes across a massive pearl that is larger than they have ever witnessed before. Kino is so intrigued with the riches the pearl could bring to their family,he starts having dreams of the things they will do with the money. As the news travels of Kino's findings, so does his expectations of the pearl’s true value. When he rejects offers of money that are bigger than he has ever seen, he gains a sense of seclusion between him and everyone else. Soon after, the pearl, which was once so close to him, leads him into murdering men, killing the only thing he valued in his life, and causing his reputation in his hometown to go down hill. The author uses character development to show when blinded by the hopes of prosperity, people often take risks while disregarding the devastation

Wealth can allow people to have many good things in life, however, can also be very destructive if it is abused. Symbolism, imagery, and the characters show how wealth can either be helpful or devastating to people's lives. After the priest discovers Kino's new treasure, the pearl, he talks to him and says that he should donate money to the church to praise God or the Gods on his finding. The priest examined Kino and said, "It has come to me that thou hast found a great fortune, a great pearl." Kino then opened his hand and held it out, and the priest gasped a little at the size and beauty of the pearl. And then he said," I hope thou wilt remember to give thanks, my son, to Him who has given thee this treasure, and to pray for guidance in the future (Steinbeck 24-25). Each man sees in the pearl what they could do if they had the chance to discover the "Pearl of the World." The pearl's immediate and lasting effect on Kino is causing him to dream of better things for himself and his family. Although the pearl attracts intruders and pursuers, Kino determines that his family will rise above it. Most importantly, he expects his son, Coyotito to be at the same education level as the White Europeans. The story characterizes the sympathetic characters, Kino and Juana, as well as the unsympathetic character, the doctor. In the novella, Steinbeck shows that wealth can have

Kino in The Pearl creates the theme of greed and power can make one’s downfall. In the book Juana (Kino’s wife) hears evil music with the pearl and fears it will tear apart the family and the village. So she sneaks out in the early morning with it and tries to get rid of it to free her family from evil but gets caught in the action by her husband who goes savage. “Her arm was up to throw when he leaped at her and caught her arm and wrenched the pearl from her. He struck her in the face with his clenched fist and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the side...Kino looked down at her and his teeth were bared. He hissed at her like a snake…”(page 58-59) This shows how greed and power can make one’s downfall because the greed of the pearl and the idea of what riches it could bring to the family and the whole village which makes Kino fill with rage when he sees Juana trying to get rid of

In conclusion, Steinbeck’s novella demonstrates how innocence and hope is destroyed by greed and ambition. Kino seeks to gain wealth and status through the pearl. As he does so, he transforms from a happy father, who was content with his current life, to a greedy person, who can see no good in anything except for the pearl. The pearl, which originally represented Kino’s hope and innocence, is destroyed by

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.

“ The acquisition of wealth is a work of great labor; its possession, a source of continual fear; its loss, of excessive grief.” This quote can apply in our lives and even some books we read like The Pearl. In the book, The Pearl, the wealth of Kino and his family is the pearl they find. It’s possession caused them great fear and labor from the beginning of the book, and it caused them grief towards the end. This quote applies to all parts of the book, and we will examine into all of the chapters to take a closer look.

Many people in the world today grow crazy and mad when surrounded by even the slightest bit of wealth and good fortune. Even a strong person who recognizes their priorities can still become corrupt with too much power. There is no better example of a person falling into the path of evil and corruption than in a novel written by John Steinbeck. In the novel The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, the author writes about a poor Indian man named Kino who becomes corrupt from the wealth of a magnificent pearl. Steinbeck uses the motifs of music, light and dark imagery, and values to develop the theme that good fortune, wealth, and prosperity steer even the most innocent of people towards a path of evil and corruption. The reader learns that one

In the world, greed is extremely powerful and can take over someone in the blink of an eye. It is not something that people can quickly recover from, and this is beautifully portrayed in the novel The Pearl, by John Steinbeck. In The Pearl, greed overtakes a man named Kino who has a wonderful family. He ends up finding a pearl and wanting more than he can get. This destroys his family and shows him that he should be grateful for what he has.

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

When the injured Juana returns to their home, she sees “a dead man in the path and Kino’s knife, dark bladed beside him.” Kino has become so determined to get what he wants that he kills a man for trying to take the pearl from him, committing a violent act that shatters any hope at peace. Juana sees that there is “nothing to do but save themselves,” because this act has finally destroyed any hope at returning to “the old peace” unscathed. Kino is not the only one to be violent, however. After the murder, Kino goes to find his boat.

By the end of The Pearl, Kino, who was extremely innocent and ambitious in the beginning of the book, has killed a total of four men, hit his wife, and gotten his son killed trying to sell the pearl. Certain people in the village, who seemed like one big family at first, had invaded Kino’s home twice, and were even hunting him once he left. Juana, Kino’s wife, was the only voice of reason throughout the story. She continually told Kino to throw away the pearl before it destroyed their family and life. Kino didn’t listen though, and it ultimately ended in the death of his

Money, Education, and Equality are major oppressions Kino and the town faced. Kino has experienced a lot in his life, but only one thing has kept him from losing his mind, his family. His family is why he is fighting for the pearl and why he needs it to survive. He feels various emotions throughout the book but he always goes back to why he is doing all the pain and suffering in the first place, his family. Kino is an honest man with good intentions to help his family's needs over his own needs. With or without all the problems Kino faced, he still would chose his family in the

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).

Kino a loving father and husband whom had dreams for his family, as shown in steinbeck’s The Pearl. But fate led him to a pearl of exqwizit magnificence. This pearl assured the dreams he wanted for his family, to marry ied to his wife Juana, and for his son Coyotito to get a proper education. But because of Kino’s obsessive attitude over the pearl it doomed his family to a different path, one with fear, death, and corruption. Juana his loving wife whom was spectacle of what Kino was doing and questioned him “Who do you fear?” (35) Kino answered with “Everyone”(36). You may argue that Kino’s actions are being based on greed therefore greed is responsible for the death of Coyotito and the destruction of the family, I invalidate that argument because greed is an emotion. Greed, is an emotion and emotions cannot control you, you have the ability control your emotions. DO NOT READ THE RED “In my target essay, I argued that emotions can be controlled, in the sense that we can shape or influence which emotions we have, when we have them, and how we experience and express these emotions.”

He worked to feed his family, and protect his family from anything that could harm them. So, when Kino found the pearl, this great opportunity, he seemed to change all of his morals and traits that made him the person he was. Juana had noticed the effect that the pearl had on Kino and the whole environment that was around them, so she decided to try and get rid of it herself. When Kino saw Juana down by the water he ran out to her and throw her up against a rock and kicked her in the ribs. His actions showed that in his mind the pearl was worth more to him than Juana was.