“Everyone has a treasure.” In the short story “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Myers, Greg learns that basketball is not the most important thing in life. In the novel “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck Kino’s good luck brings him misfortune. In “The Pearl,” Kino finds a great pearl and wants to sell it and use the money to cure his child of a scorpion sting. This does not go to plan when people try to kill Kino and take the it. In the stories “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” and “The Pearl” Greg and Kino both change because of what is happening in their lives. In “The Pearl” Kino’s live changes because he finds a pearl. In the beginning of the novel Kino is at peace, “It was a morning like other mornings, but perfect among mornings.” This shows that Kino loves his life and loves every morning. Kino also shows that he loves nature. Near the end of the novel Kino is angry at the pearl for causing him misfortune such as his child’s death, “Kino drew back his arm and flung the pearl with all his might.” This demonstrates that he wants nothing to do with the pearl. This also illustrated that …show more content…
In the beginning Greg wanted to play basketball regardless of his math grade, “He stood to go upstairs, thought of the lecture that probably awaited him if he did anything but shut himself in his room with his math book, and started walking down the street.” This exposes that Greg dislikes math and thinks basketball is more important. This also shows that Greg doesn't care about math. Near the end of the story Greg’s view on life changes, “Greg pressed the button over the bell marked ‘Ridley,’ and thought of the lecture his father would give him, and smiled.” This proves that Greg is content with having to study and that he may not be able to play basketball. Greg’s point of view changes and he finally realizes that basketball is not his entire
Gusts of wind made bits of paper dance between parked cars. There was a flash nearby lightning, and soon large drops of rain splashed onto his jeans. He stood to go upstairs, thought of the lecture that probably awaited him if he did anything except shut himself in his room with his math book, and started walking down the street instead.” This quote is important to the theme because it implies Greg’s mood which connects to the theme by setting up Greg to be in a stressful mood. This stressful mood makes him talk back with no elderly respect to Lemon Brown. The next scene is where he meets Lemon Brown.
Greg’s grades should be a priority, but they aren’t, so his father is simply trying to fix that. But after meeting Lemon Brown, Greg’s perspective changed. In paragraph 118 it states: “Thought of the lecture his father would give him, and smiled.” This is Greg finally realizing that his father only wanted the best for him, and wasn’t trying to make him
In the beginning, Greg leaves the house, in a furious state, for an abandoned tenement, so that he can get away from his father. He is upset at his father for lecturing him. Greg is failing math; therefore, his father forbids him to play basketball unless his math grade improves. In the tenement, he meets a raggedy, old man, Lemon Brown, who talks about treasure.
“ 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.
“I traveled around, and one time I come home, and there was this letter saying Jesse got killed in the war. Broke my heart, it truly did. They sent back what he had with him over there, and what it was is this old mouth fiddle and these clippings. Him carrying it around with him like that told me it meant something to him. That was my treasure, and when I give it to him, he treated it just like that, a treasure. Ain’t that something?” (Myers pg. 25).This makes Greg feel bad about how he has treated his father.This makes Greg think again about his father and how his father is right for being concerned with Greg playing basketball. “Juan Tomas nodded gravely. He was the elder, and Kino looked to him for wisdom. “It is hard to know,” he said. “We do know that we are cheated from birth to the overcharge on our coffins. But we survive. You have defied not the pearl buyers, but the whole structure, the whole way of life, and I am afraid for you.” (Steinbeck, pg 54). This shows that Kino has changed because he is defining the way of life. When Kino leaves the pearl buyers office, he shows how badly he wants to be rich by rejecting the small amount of money the pearl buyer has offered. These experiences show how Greg and Kino maybe starting to change and become
Before Kino found the pearl, he wasn’t exposed to great hardship or struggle. When he found the pearl, Kino became very greedy and he experienced immense pain and loss. Furthermore, the pearl also caused Kino to lose his innocence. When Kino allowed evil and pain to take over his perspective of life he became angry. The first time Kino killed someone was when a man broke into Kino’s house in attempt to steal the pearl. Later in the book, Kino and his family we being shadowed by trackers in pursuit to kill him and his family and steal the pearl. After the trackers fired upon Kino’s child, Kino became filled with rage and the pearl grew gray and he let evil take him over: "And in the surface of the pearl he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away. And the pearl was ugly; it was gray, like a malignant growth. And Kino heard the music of the pearl, distorted and insane” (pg. 89). Kino then killed those who were in pursuit of him and shot at
In the novella, The Pearl, Kino is faced with many decisions that later impact his life in ways that he could never image. The Pearl tells the tale of a great pearl that could change the life of any man. Kino happened to be this man, but this great pearl caused nothing but havoc and harm to come upon his family. When they were running from all of the trouble the pearl had caused them, Kino’s son died, their hut burned down in the attempt to get away, and Kino had become a man of anger and violence.
The quote is relatable because it is talking about how he has to bring his grade up or he won’t be able to do the one thing he treasures, playing basketball. The quote is important because the conflict between them is what causes Greg to leave the house when it starts raining. When he ends up at a tenement where he soon meets Lemon Brown. Greg’s chance encounters with a homeless man, who changes his perspection on life.
sell the pearl in order to pay for a doctor Coyotito needs, but the pearl buyers
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
However, two vibrant changes occur as the story progresses —Coyotito, his son, getting stung by a scorpion and Kino’s discovery of the pearl—broaden Kino’s horizons and outlook on the world. As Kino begins to strive for wealth and education for his son, the simplicity of his life becomes increasingly complicated by greed, conflict, and violence. Kino’s character then falls through a gradual decline from a state of innocence to a state of corruption and disillusionment. The factors promoting this decline are ambition and greed. Thus, when going got tough for Kinoo and he had to escape town he faced a lot of hardships, since he had to go into hiding and the only immediate help he had was from his brother. This had an adverse effect on his personality as he became increasingly negative, given the way he hit his wife shows how the pearl preoccupied his mind to such a great extent that he grew indifferent to everything else as evil and restlessness eloped him. In addition to these social changes, Kinoo, after attaining the pearl was on the move to gain economic sustenance, but not being able to find the right price to sell his pearl got him feeling even more uncertain and disappointed but he continued to strive and was reluctant to give up because he wanted everything in his reach for his son, who he consequently ended up losing in the
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.
Kino knows right from wrong, he knows being obsessive over a pearl is wrong because it puts too much at stake, majorly the whole as is referred to as the way of life in The Pearl. You may also debate that It 's the pearl’s fault for Coyotito’s death because if Kino
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
He imagined a better life for his family. Despite everything that went wrong, despite people telling him to throw the pearl away, Kino continued to believe in the value and importance of the pearl. Early on Juana tried to convince Kino to get rid of the pearl, “‘This pearl is a sin! It will destroy us,’ and her voice rose shrilly ‘ throw it away.’”(John Steinbeck 38). Kino would have ordinarily taken into consideration his wife’s concerns and this was out of character. While under the spell of the pearl, It didn’t matter to him that Juana had his best interest in mind when she advised him to get rid of the pearl. Even after Kino was attacked, he was unwavering in his conviction in the value of the pearl, “but Kino’s face was set, and his will was set” Kino was given many chances to throw away the pearl, but yet he was stubborn and continued to believe in the pearl even though his world was falling apart and even though he could lose