“Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.” - Lemony Snicket. In the novella “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck, there are several examples of fate throughout the story. Most of the time the main character, Kino does not ask for them and in this story, fate takes many bad turns throughout the book, resulting in tragic events. Fate is the most responsible for the tragic events occurring at the end of the story because of the good and bad of pearls, levels of social class, and the events that happen to Coyotito.
Fate is responsible because the good and bad of pearls. When Coyotito got stung by the scorpion, Kino and Juana were forced to bring him to the doctor to prevent him from dying. Kino had no money to pay the doctor, so he attempted to pay him in the only thing he had. Flat, gray, ugly pearls. “Crease by crease he unfolded it, until at last there came to view eight small misshapen seed pearls, as ugly and gray as little ulcers, flattened and almost valueless” (Steinbeck, 11). It was by fate when Kino could not pay the doctor the great pearl he found shortly after. At that time, Kino only had the worthless pearls. Of course it was after the doctor denied them and after Coyotito healed when they found the pearl of the world. It was clearly fate. He could have of looked somewhere else and the whole story would have of been different. However, he searched in the exact area where the
In the novel, The Pearl, the author John Steinbeck uses many similes and metaphors to communicate the theme of how liking something leads to the need to protect it through a strong will and instincts. When Kino seems to be obsessed with the pearl, in the middle of the night she attempts to protect him from it by throwing it away, “And like a shadow she glided toward the door.” (58) This quote uses a simile to emphasize how Juana truly values Kino, so she is trying to protect him by getting rid of the pearl, and she is sneaking out as stealthily as a shadow to try to help Kino. Later, Kino returns the favor when he protects Juana and Coyotito: “He was an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he lived only to preserve himself and his family.”
He was supposed to use it to pay for his baby's health, but after being stung by a scorpion, the baby miraculously healed himself. After the incident, in search for money Kino found a perfectly shaped, sized and colored pearl laying the ocean, infact it wasn't even the start of his fate. It begun when his baby got stung, something so horrific turned into great fortune. These were all things that fell into his lap from the very beginning and transformed the timeline. In this novel, John Steinbeck focused on the power of an object controlling everything. I feel an object can be fate or become fate, and in this situation it was fate from the start. “But the pearls were accidents, and the finding of one was luck, a little pat on the back by God, or the gods, or both.” (Steinbeck 16.) I found that this quote was significant because it truly demonstrates how this is complete luck. They were accidents and finding one is absolute
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.
After the death of Kino's son he was no longer happy and he probably never will be. The pearls purpose was to provide for Coyotito. Kino was going to give his son an education so he could have a decent life when he was older. Therefore without Coyotito the pearl had no value to Kino.
John Steinbeck’s The Pearl is a Novella, which is longer than a short story and shorter than a novel. The story is about a poor mexican family and the father Kino, whose occupation is diving for pearls off the Baja peninsula. After retrieving the pearl the family becomes wealthy and content and soon after the father turns into a criminal. This shows how greed and aspiration can demolish innocence. Steinbeck's motive for creating the book was to show the reader that the cause of all this stress and chaos is because of poverty. As illustrated in The Pearl, people call for desperate measures when poverty
The Pearl written by John Steinbeck is a parable, a story that teaches a moral lesson. The focus of this novel is on a poor Indian family. The family consists of three members: Kino, a husband, father, and fisherman, Juana, his wife and loving mother; and Coyotito their infant son. This indigent family lives in a small brush hut along the Gulf of Mexico by the town of La Paz. One day Coyotito, is bitten by a scorpion; a scorpion sting can be deadly to a baby. Kino and Juana are very worried over the health of their baby; therefore, they hope to find a pearl worthy enough for the doctor’s payment to the doctor to treat Coyotito. With luck on their side, Kino finds a pearl the size of a seagull’s egg; he calls it “The Pearl of the
After a while, Coyotito had mostly healed and Kino needed some more money so he and Juana and decided to go on his special canoe and go hunt for pearls. His boat was special because it was well taken care of and had lots of coating on the boat. When they went out to sea, Kino dived into the ocean and started to look for good oysters that hadn’t been opened yet. He had collected about a bucket when he spotted a massive oyster that wasn’t with the others. He was very anxious to get to the canoe and open the oyster to see if there was a pearl. When Kino was able to get back on the canoe, he showed Juana the massive oyster and her eyes popped at the size of it. They start to open the pearl and they see this massive pearl in the inside of it. Kino knew this was the pearl of the world that everyone was
Just like in real life, the characters in literature tend to be faced with very tough decisions in one way or the other. During these times, our decisions can turn us into heroes or make us look like big fools. The choices can thus affect our lives positively or negatively. ‘The Pearl’ is a 1947 novella by John Steinbeck where he tells the story of Kino, a pearl diver. Through the story, he tries to explore the nature of man of evil, greed, and defiance to the norms of society. He tells the story of how Kino found and lost the pearl. In this paper, the argument will be made from the point of Kino as a hero.
After I read “The Pearl”, I learned that once our enemy has become nature itself, our animal instincts take over. After Kino’s house burned down and his canoe destroyed, Steinbeck quotes, “He was an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he lived only to preserve himself and his family.” (Steinbeck, 64). I used to think that we humans would be able to maintain our sanity through any situation. However, Kino taught me that we all become animals when nature becomes our enemy such as the time when he left the town: “The wind blew fierce and strong, and it pelted them with bits of sticks, sand, and little rocks.” (Steinbeck, 69). From this, we’re shown that once they’ve left their home, their “paradise”, nature becomes their enemy, and it haunts them in every corner. During this period, Kino becomes more animal-like such as his response to when he and Juana saw the pool of water: “They came utterly weary to the pool, and Juana slumped to her knees…Kino drank long and thirstily at the pool.” (Steinbeck, 80).
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
We all know the pearl, from the novel “The Pearl” was very deceiving. The pearl was suppose have a good impact on Kino’s life. However, the pearl turned out to have many negative effects on Kino’s life. The many different effects of the pearl eventually changed Kino’s life forever. However, the pearl had different stages and meanings in the novel, which includes the different symbolisms of the pearl, what the pearl meant Kino in different stages in the novel, and what it meant to the community.
In a small fishing village by the name of La Paz, live a simple, content, and calm family. The family consists of a child, Coyotito, and husband and wife, Juana and Kino. Kino is a poor fisherman and pearl diver that is simply working to support his family that he cares for very much. In the novel, Kino eventually acquires a pearl that he hopes will change his life around. As a result, the whole of his village despises Kino. They envy him for the rarity that is the pearl. Kino envisions an education for Coyotito, a rifle, and a marriage in a church, but realistically, the pearl shows death and more morbid outcomes such as Juana being beaten, and Coyotito being ill. Throughout the novel, the pearl noticeably has an impact on Kino's
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.
Kino’s neighbors state that, “Luck, you see, brings bitter friends”. This shows that the neighbors of Kino knew that the pearl was evil, but Kino was not listening, and he started the downfall of his family. Since Kino did not listen, the pearl unleashed its evil upon Kino and his family. Juana also stated that, “This pearl is like a sin! It will destroy us.” Kino acts like he is a man, shows no respect to his wife, and tells his wife that everything is alright when it is truly not. Kino does not care about the evil that will hurt his family, he just wants the money. Kino shows a lot of ignorance, which proves the fact that Kino is the true villain of this story.
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