The Pearl

The main song that is mentioned is the Song of the Family. This doubles as both Kino's personal song and family anthem. It materializes itself throughout the story. The song can take on a happy...

The protagonist of The Pearl, Kino, is a traditional hard-working man who takes great pride in his dignity and unwillingness to give in. He has tremendous love for his wife and child, which...

The songs in this book are important because they add historical and cultural depth to both the setting and the characters. We are told that no new songs are being created, but the old songs...

At the beginning of the novella, Kino and his wife are enjoying a typical tranquil morning when suddenly a poisonous scorpion moves slowly down the rope attached to the hanging box, which holds...

The doctor has no interest in treating Coyotito until Kino finds the pearl, and Coyotito was getting better before seeing the doctor. Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, which is of course very...

An additional example of foreshadowing comes at the end of chapter 3 when Juana tells Kino that the pearl will ruin their son. Up until this moment there's been no sense that the pearl will be...

It is clear that throughout the novella Kino changes greatly thanks to the introduction of the pearl into his life. He starts off as your average hard-working Mexican fisherman, desperately trying...

In John Steinbeck’s story The Pearl, it is the precious stone itself that serves a parable for the greed and avarice that naturally accompany the discovery and revelation of sudden wealth in the...

In chapter six, Kino, Juana and Coyotito were being stalked and hunted down like prey. Kino had decided that they should leave their home since their lives were in danger. He told his brother that...

John Steinbeck presents poverty as both a material and a structural problem. The Pearl reveals that the issues that Kino and Juana face are not just their lack of money. The reader meets the family...

To some extent, Kino is a victim of fate. This is because, as a member of Mexico's indigenous population, things happen to him; he doesn't make things happen. Poor and downtrodden, the likes of...

Like a lot of essentially decent people, Kino becomes corrupted by the prospect of riches. At first, he's presented as very simple, a loving family man who works hard for his loved ones. He's also...

Kino has what we might call an "ancient soul." He is connected in some mysterious way to the distant generations of his people when they were song makers. His people had once been great makers of...

At the end of Chapter 2 of The Pearl, word has spread to other fishermen about Kino's discovery. When Chapter 3 begins, word has spread throughout the town as he's just reaching shore. Chapter 3...

I think the most important theme in The Pearl is Obsession. In Chapter II, Kino dives for pearls in a desperate attempt to find one of value with which to pay the doctor to treat Coyotito for the...

A simile is a literary device that is used to compare two things. Unlike metaphors, similes draw direct comparisons by using the words "like" or "as." In Chapter 2 of the novella, Kino discovers...

Finding the pearl resulted in more negative consequences than positive ones. When Kino found the pearl, he thought that all of his problems were solved. He expected to be able to sell it and he...

In Chapter 3, Kino looks at the marvelous pearl in his hands and begins to think about all the possible things he will be able to provide for his family with the money he receives from selling the...

Racism can be seen most prominently in how the doctor treats Kino. The doctor is part of the racial elite; as such, he looks down on indigenous people like Kino, seeing them as racially inferior....

After little Coyotito is stung by the scorpion, Kino and Juanita take him to the town to seek medical treatment. It's notable that Steinbeck uses animal imagery to highlight the differences between...

Coyotito's scream is mistaken by the trackers as the cry of a coyote. One of them fires his rifle, and the bullet kills the innocent baby, whose name ironically resembles that of the animal that...

Immediately after Kino discovers the Pearl of the World, he begins to fantasize about the material items he plans on purchasing and thinks about how his life will dramatically improve. Steinbeck's...

John Steinbeck was inspired to write his novella The Pearl after visiting the La Paz, Baja California Sur, with his good friend and marine biologist Ed Ricketts on their Sea of Cortez expedition....

In Chapter II of The Pearl, Kino hears the song of "the Pearl that Might Be." In order to earn a living, Kino dives for pearls with the boat his grandfather once owned. So, when the upper class...

John Steinbeck recounts the story of an indigenous native fisherman of Mexico in his non-fiction work, Sea of Cortez, and describes the tale of a man who finds a pearl of great value only to have...

Steinbeck's short novel, The Pearl, is set in La Paz, Mexico. Readers of Steinbeck's work may have also come across the Kino's basic story, in brief, in Steinbeck's non-fiction chronicle of his...

Kino knows of many songs from his people, but the song most prevalent in the first section of "The Pearl" is the Song of the Family. The songs in the story are not necessarily music as it is...

A town is a “colonial animal” because news travels so fast it seems to have a memory and motivation of its own. When we are told that a town has “a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet”...

Kino killed a man with a knife in a fight for the pearl. The incident you are describing is when Kino killed the man with the knife. Kino is a target because of the pearl. He defends himself with...

The doctor in The Pearl is a very greedy man. He was also a man filled with prejudice. When Coyotito is stung by the scorpion, Kino is desperate to get help. However, he does not like or trust...

Kino is responsible for his own demise simply through his own thoughts and actions. First, Kino inadvertently announced that he possessed the "Pearl of the World" to the entire town when he...

In the beginning of chapter three it tells of the news spreading throughout the town. Steinbeck compares it to an animal. He says "News seems to move faster than small boys can scramble and...

The conservative political commentator and humorist P. J. O'Rourke has asserted that one does not solve the problem of poverty by giving money to poor people. Although this is a point most often...

Ironically, it is family values that tempt Kino and Juana to pursue wealth. They both care deeply about their infant son, Coyotito, so when he is stung by a scorpion they want to get the best...

Kino's canoe is the tool he uses to provide for his family and is an essential part of his life. Kino's canoe enables him to catch fish and carries him to deeper waters, where he dives for pearls....

The very first paragraph of chapter 3 has the descriptive comparison that the question is asking about. A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and...

An overriding theme for John Steinbeck's parable of The Pearl is that of Good vs. Evil. This theme is connected to the theme of Social Class that begins at the end of Chapter I and develops further...

After returning from the town, Juana attempts to throw the pearl into the ocean, but Kino stops his wife and severely beats her. On his walk back to his hut on the beach, Kino is attacked by a...

John Steinbeck's The Pearl is written as a parable, a simple story meant to develop a moral lesson. In developing this parable, Steinbeck employs music as a motif and as an instrument for...

After the doctor initially dismisses Kino's concerns about his son's well-being, he hears the news of Kino's discovery and sees Coyotito's illness as an opportunity to make money. When the doctor...

The pearl buyers are middlemen for the big traders who make a lot of money out of the buying and selling of pearls. They are essentially parasites in that they don't risk their own necks diving...

Immediately after Coyotito is stung by the scorpion, Juana attempts to suck the venom out of his wound before she and Kino travel into town to see the European doctor. Unfortunately, the...

One of the central ideas in Steinbeck's The Pearl is that wealth corrupts. There is a related thematic undercurrent in the work that suggests that a lust for wealth is unnatural and can lead to a...

Four important events in The Pearl may include: 1. Coyotito is bitten by a scorpion. This event is the main event that leads to all other events in the novel. This begins the chain of events that...

When I first read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, I was struck by the power putting the songs in there had. I think this is similar. The songs simultaneously establish the setting and comment on...

What is interesting about the pearl, which is clearly the central symbol of this novella, is that the way it is depicted changes during the course of the novella, and in addition, that these...