the pearl essay writing

Introduction to The Pearl

Summary of the pearl, major themes in the pearl, major characters in the pearl, writing style of the pearl‎, analysis of literary devices in the pearl, related posts:, post navigation.

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Essay Samples on The Pearl

Imagery and character analysis in the pearl.

In the very beginning of the book, Kino watches as his son, Coyotio sleeps. While he is sleeping, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion despite Kino’s efforts to catch it and kill it. They go to the doctor to get Kino treated for the sting...

• Character Analysis
• Imagery in Literature

The Theme Of Group Behavior In The Pearl By John Steinbeck

The article is a study exploring the pattern of group activity in John The Pearl's novel. There's a major influence on other individuals from Stein show group behavior. We are the long-term basis of human life. Steinbeck's group-man theory is based on Darwinian interpretation of...

• John Steinbeck

Theme of Greed in John Steinbeck’s Novel The Pearl and Jack London's Story A Piece of Steak

In John Steinbeck’s realistic fiction novel, The Pearl, Kino drastically changes his life when he finds a pearl of great value. Local authors, Jack London and John Steinbeck, both use greed, murder, and poverty in different ways to express their themes. Greed is a theme...

John Steinbeck's The Pearl Through the Prism of New Formalism

Using the New Formalism as a lens to analyze Pearls, the reader can see that Steinbeck uses images, symbols and music to develop a theme according to which luck can lead people with good intentions to the path of evil and negative. In modern society,...

• The New Deal

John Steinbeck: Literary Works, Life and People Who Inspired Him

Recurring Ideas in Of Mice and Men, Travels With Charley, and The Pearl The Desire to Escape One recurring theme that is displayed in Of Mice and Men, Travels With Charley, and The Pearl is the desire to escape, which causes the characters to venture...

• Literature Review

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Best topics on The Pearl

1. Imagery And Character Analysis In The Pearl

2. The Theme Of Group Behavior In The Pearl By John Steinbeck

3. Theme of Greed in John Steinbeck’s Novel The Pearl and Jack London’s Story A Piece of Steak

4. John Steinbeck’s The Pearl Through the Prism of New Formalism

5. John Steinbeck: Literary Works, Life and People Who Inspired Him

• Hidden Intellectualism
• A Raisin in The Sun
• William Shakespeare
• Sonny's Blues

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by John Steinbeck

The pearl study guide.

John Steinbeck wrote The Pearl during the time in which he was at the height of his fame. He had completed The Grapes of Wrath , for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was renowned and reviled as a subversive, unpatriotic man who threatened the national interest through the socialist themes of his novels. This view of Steinbeck was inconsistent with his soft-spoken nature, but by 1944, when Steinbeck began to write The Pearl, Steinbeck had come to reconcile this aspect of his fame.

Steinbeck wrote The Pearl based on his personal convictions, and based the story on the biblical parable of a ?pearl of great price.' In this story, a jewel for which the merchant trades everything he owns becomes the metaphor for Heaven. Everything in the merchant's earthly existence, however, becomes worthless when compared to the joys of living with God in Heaven. However, Steinbeck uses the parable as a meditation on the American dream of success. Steinbeck, who himself had risen quickly to prosperity, explores how Kino , the protagonist of The Pearl, deals with his newfound prominence in the community and riches.

Steinbeck found a second inspiration for The Pearl in the tale of a young Mexican boy told in Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez. However, the boy in the original form of the story wished to use the pearl to buy clothing, alcohol and sex. The story contains several similar plot points, including the rapacious dealers and the attacks on the boy to find the pearl, that would recur in the story's final form.

The Pearl derives much of its force from the descriptions of the impoverished lifestyle of the Mexicans of La Paz, the location of the story. The plight of the impoverished is a consistent theme in Steinbeck's work, including The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men . Although these novels dealt with white protagonists, Steinbeck turned to the plight of Mexicans for The Pearl based on the 1942 and 1943 Zoot Suit Race Riots in Los Angeles.

By the time that Steinbeck wrote The Pearl, he had gained an interest in writing screenplays, and thus wrote the novel in a form suitable for easy adaptation to film. The story has a simple plot structure and an economy of characters, but unlike The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden , Steinbeck did not adapt The Pearl. Instead, Steinbeck focused on screenplays written originally for the screen for his subsequent works.

The Pearl Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Pearl is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

-other pearl divers

-rest of the people in village

What does Kino mean by, “This pearl has become my soul. “If I give it up I shall lose my soul…” Do you agree with him?

Kino allows the pearl to consume his life at the expense of everything else he holds dear. Do I agree with him? Money is nothing when compared with the people who love you...... absolutely not.

describe the setting of the novel "The Pearl"

The setting is a Mexican coastal village called La Paz, probably on the Baja Peninsula. The time is not mentioned although many feel it looks like the late 18th ot early 19th century.

Study Guide for The Pearl

The Pearl study guide contains a biography of John Steinbeck, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Pearl
• The Pearl Summary
• The Pearl Video
• Character List
• Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Essays for The Pearl

The Pearl literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Pearl.

• The Pearl versus The Secret River
• The Pearl: Symbolism Analysis
• A Dollar Cannot Buy a Smile: Riches vs. Happiness in 'The Pearl'
• Women as a Voice of Reason in John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• An Analysis of Imagery and Mood in John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”

Lesson Plan for The Pearl

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Pearl
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Pearl Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Pearl

• Introduction

57 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Consider the priest and the doctor as foil characters. How do their characteristics and roles overlap, and how do they differ?

The narrator says that The Pearl is a parable, which is a simple story that teaches a moral or lesson. What morals or lessons might Kino’s people derive from the story? Do those morals and lessons differ from the ones Steinbeck intends readers to take from it?

Consider dialogue within The Pearl . Though Kino and his people speak an unidentified “old language,” the dialogue is recorded in English. What tone and style does Steinbeck adopt for the dialogue, and how does it influence your perception of the characters and events?

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The Long Valley

The Moon Is Down

The Red Pony

The Wayward Bus

The Winter Of Our Discontent

To a God Unknown

Tortilla Flat

Travels With Charley

Featured Collections

Allegories of Modern Life

View Collection

American Literature

Challenging Authority

Colonialism & Postcolonialism

Good & Evil

Nobel Laureates in Literature

The Pearl Essay

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74 The Pearl Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best the pearl topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting the pearl topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about the pearl, ❓ the pearl essays questions.

• John Steinbeck’s The Pearl As the title of the book suggests, the story is based on the enormous pearl Kino finds, and the events that took place as people tried to hunt Kino for possessing the pearl.
• The Pearl by John Steinbeck Kino plans to travel to another city to sell this pearl, but his brother warns that the pearl is evil and he should just sell it.
• The Support of Symbolism, Plot, and Characterization to the Theme in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• An Analysis of the Setting in the Novel “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• Loyalty Demonstration in “The Odyssey” and “The Pearl”
• Comparing Characterization in Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and “The Pearl”
• An Analysis of Virtue in “The Pearl” and “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
• The Symbolism of the Pearl in the Novel “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Value of the Pearl in John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• An Examination of the Configuration in John Steinbeck’s Novel “The Pearl”
• Constant Struggle Between the Morally Opposite Forces of Good and Evil in “The Pearl”
• Kino and Juana’s Racial Heritage, Tradition, and Oppression in Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• The Importance of the Writing Style in John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• A Story of Man’s Self-Destruction in Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• Transformation Due to Money in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Deterioration of Kino’s Character Due to Greed in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Dramatic Changes in the Life of Kino in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• Humanity’s Struggle With Greed Depicted in John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• The Theme of Obsession in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Tale of the Pearl as Told by Juana, a Character in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• An Analysis of the Theme of Selfishness in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Influence of Power and Authority on the Main Character’s Lifestyle in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• Disclosure of the Theme of Class Struggle in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Role of Ignorance in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• Financial Gaps in Mexico and “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Role of Economic and Social Oppression in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Destructive Influence of Materialism in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• Nature in Crucial Plot-Points in Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• The Value and Evaluation of Material Entities as a Central Theme in “The Pearl”
• The Influence of the Social and Cultural Context on the Life of the Protagonist in “The Pearl”
• Differences Between Kino’s People and the Doctor in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Portrayal of Verism Through “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Pursuit of Material Wealth and Happiness in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• Modern Interpretation of “The Pearl” From a Personal Point of View
• Disappointment in Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”
• Evaluating Very Simplistic View in Great Depth in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck Movie Versus Novel
• The Use of Vivid Description in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Moral Values in Life in “A Raisin in the Sun”, “Almost a Woman”, and “The Pearl”
• The Use of Imagery and Mood in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• The Relationship Between Juan and Coyotito in the Creative Story of “The Pearl”
• Common Problems in the 1940s in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck
• Relationship Between the Life of John Steinbeck and His Characters in the Novel “The Pearl”
• How Does Steinbeck Present Race in “The Pearl”?
• What Does “The Pearl” Symbolize?
• How Power and Authority Affect the Main Character’s Lifestyle in “The Pearl”?
• How Is Poverty Dehumanizing in “The Pearl”?
• What Is the Moral Lesson of “The Pearl”?
• How Is Ambition Shown in “The Pearl”?
• Why Are the “Dark Ones” and the Trackers Never Identified in “The Pearl”?
• Is “The Pearl” a Parable or Allegory?
• What Is the Personification in “The Pearl”?
• How Does the Pearl Impact Kino and Juana Relationship?
• What Do the Beggars Symbolize in “The Pearl”?
• What Does Coyotito Symbolize in “The Pearl”?
• What Does Kino’s Canoe Symbolize in “The Pearl”?
• How Does Steinbeck Characterize the Doctor in “The Pearl”?
• What Is the Main Theme of “The Pearl”?
• What Is the Function of the Many Songs That Kino Hears During “The Pearl”?
• Who Is the Antagonist of “The Pearl”?
• Are Kino and Juana Defeated or Triumphant at the End of “The Pearl”?
• What Is the Mood of “The Pearl”?
• What Is the Social Criticism in “The Pearl”?
• How Does “The Pearl” Conclusion Complete Steinbeck’s Moral Argument?
• What Role Does Family Play in “The Pearl”?
• Was “The Pearl” Evil or Honest?
• Why Is the Scorpion Important in “The Pearl”?
• What Is the Main Conflict in the Story “The Pearl”?
• How Greed Is Portrayed in “The Pearl”?
• What Is the Conclusion of “The Pearl”?
• How Does Steinbeck Combine Naturalistic and Symbolic Elements in “The Pearl”?
• How Is Irony Used in “The Pearl”?
• What Does the Water Symbolize in “The Pearl”?
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Themes and Analysis

By john steinbeck.

'The Pearl' by John Steinbeck is a short novel beautifully told in oratory style and laced with many lessons for readers and topics for critics.

Article written by Israel Njoku

Degree in M.C.M with focus on Literature from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

‘ The Pearl ‘ by John Steinbeck explores themes like greed and exploitation to give insight into ethical issues facing humanity in the context of ethnic and economic divisions. It also has symbols that further drive the themes of the story and is written with a lyrical flow that makes it a delight to readers .

Some of the themes in ‘ The Pearl ‘ by John Steinbeck are greed, exploitation, and fate. And these are discussed here.

The discovery of the pearl triggered greed in Kino. He used to be a contented family man, totally loving of his wife Juana and his son Coyotito and would do anything to protect and provide for them. But as he discovers the pearl, it rouses a desire in him for money and status. All of a sudden, everything becomes subverted to this new-found desire for money and status, including his family’s safety.

This driving greed almost magically transmutes him into a brute and a criminal, capable of manslaughter. As a result, he becomes a wanted man and is on the run for his life, dragging his family along, whose prior simple and quiet life he had upset by his implacable ambition and greed. It is also on account of the pearl that he has the course to abuse his wife for the first time. And all because his wife had seen the destructive potential of the pearl and attempted to get rid of it so that she could have her once peaceful and quiet life back.

In a way, it is not so much that the pearl is innately a destructive influence. Rather, it is Kino’s greed that perverts what might easily have been the natural salutary utility of the pearl, corrupting it into something ugly and malevolent. He had the opportunity to exchange the pearl for a modest price and continue his simple life with his wife, but his ambition was beyond what the buyers offered. In the upshot, he loses his only son and is constrained to get rid of the pearl as his wife had earlier suggested.

We also see greed in other characters , like the doctor and the priest, who suddenly begin to give Kino attention because of what they stand to gain from the acquisition of the pearl.

Another theme that runs through the novella is the working of fate in the affairs of humans. In the story, the human beings are seen to be initially taking charge of their own lives and destiny, and negotiating their daily survival and sustenance as best they can. But on the other hand, some other equally key aspects of their lives are not strictly within their power to control.

Take the sea, for example. The lowly pearl divers and fishermen depend solely on the sea to be able to eke out their daily living and be able to provide for their families. But what each passing day will bring and whether the sea will yield them anything worthwhile for all their striving and effort is entirely out of the purview of their power to control.

It may happen that after a long day of strenuous striving, the sea yields nothing, or it may yield something utterly not commensurate to the effort that one had invested. And even when fate seems to be favourable and yields a fortune, as in Kino’s finding a huge pearl, there is still no guarantee that this fortune will not be, in turn, fated to ruin the life of the character who has found it in other unforeseen ways.

Exploitation

The theme of oppression and exploitation is the other key theme in the story. This manifests in several ways, for example, in the career of the doctor. His relationship with Kino and his kind is purely exploitative and predatory. It is for this reason that he refuses to treat Coyotito even though he can see that the poor child is in danger of death from a scorpion’s venom. And all because Kino cannot afford to pay for the medical treatment the boy so urgently requires. But the moment Kino finds the pearl, the doctor quickly switches and declares the sick boy his patient, and visits Kino’s brush house himself to treat him.

However, his real interest is not really in treating the boy but in the possibility of getting a share of the money that Kino’s pearl promises to bring. The same thing applies to the priest as well as the pearl dealers and all the attackers who try to steal the pearl from Kino.

Analysis of Key Moments

• Kino enjoys a peaceful morning with the monotonous routine of his family as his wife Juana prepares breakfast and his child Coyotito rocks in his crib. But the peaceful morning is disrupted as a spider stings Coyotito.
• Juana tries to suck the venom from the scorpion sting as neighbours gather around them while Kino crushes the Scorpion in rage.
• Juana decides that they must take Coyotito to the doctor, and all the neighbours and beggars in the town join them as they walk to the doctor’s house. But on getting there, the doctor refuses to treat Coyotito because Kino does not have any money to pay him.
• Kino and his family return home, and as they take their boat out to hunt for pearls, Juana gets some medicinal seaweed and places it on Coyotito’s wound while she prays that Kino would find a pearl that would make them rich enough to afford the doctor’s services.
• Kino’s venture yields a big beautiful pearl, and they are happy. The news of Kino’s pearl travel across town, neighbours troop in to visit him, and he shares his grand plans about what he will do with the fortune he makes from the pearl.
• The doctor, who had hitherto refused to treat Coyotito, visits Kino’s home and offers his services without any prompting from Kino. Even the priest visits Kino and urges them to bring gifts of thanks to the church.
• Kino’s home is attacked by a thief that night, but Kino, in his alertness, strikes the thief with his knife, and the thief flees.
• The next morning, Kino goes to sell the pearl, but the pearl dealers offer him a price that is far less than what it is worth. Sensing that he is being cheated, Kino refuses to sell the pearl and returns home with it.
• That night, Juana tries to throw the pearl back into the sea because she believes it will bring an evil that will destroy their family. But Kino gets to her before she completes the task and beats her viciously.
• Another set of thieves attacked Kino’s home again. Kino kills one of them and tries to escape with his family, but they realize that their boat has been destroyed. The thieves set Kino’s home ablaze, and Kino hides with his family at his brother’s house.
• At night, Kino flees with his family with hopes of getting to the capital, selling the pearl at a profitable rate, and beginning a new life.
• But enemies follow Kino’s tracks and try to hunt him down. The trackers set up camp at some point, and Kino decides to attack them. But before Kino can strike, Coyotito cries in the distance, and the trackers shoot at him thinking it is a Coyote.
• Kino kills the trackers but is left with his wailing wife and his dead child.
• Defeated, Kino and Juana, return to their small town, and Kino casts the pearl back into the ocean.

Style, Tone, and Figurative Language            

John Steinbeck’s style of writing in ‘The Pearl’ is rather oratorical. That is to say that the general rhythm of the narrative makes it sound as if the story is being told orally. This is probably not surprising since, as has been observed, the story is modelled after an ancient Mexican parable, and a parable originally is a short didactic tale passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. It is this oral feature that the novella imbibes. As a result, its style is conversational, the flow repetitious with a certain monotony of rhythm, giving the general aura of a tale being told around a campfire.

One way in which this writing style is observed is in the frequent occurrence of the conjunction ‘and’ in the course of the narration. For example: ‘Kino held the great pearl in his hand, and it was warm and alive . . .’ ‘Kino looked into his pearl, and Juana cast her eyelashes down…’ and so on. In this way, the author cuts down on the use of the gerund form, colons, and lengthy sentences in general, thereby retaining the ordinary repetitive style of a parable. Also, the relatively short length of the novella rebounds to the general oral bent of the narrative. But it is altogether a simple and unambiguous style.

The tone is moralistic as there is that overriding sense of a repudiation of greed and all the ills that come with it by the narrative voice. And by that same token, a reader is sucked into that same mood whereby he perceives the unfolding sequence from the narrator’s general point of view. The tone also gets despondent, particularly when it dawns on the characters that all the pearl can ever breed is evil, strife, envy, and avarice of murderous dimensions. It is probably in such a state of mind that Juana implores Kino to get rid of the pearl.

One of the dominant figurative languages in the novella includes personification. For example, the narrator uses the expression ‘the wind cried’ at one point, thereby infusing the wind, which is ordinarily a non-sentient entity with a capacity for feeling and emotiveness.

Imagery is another figurative language that features in the novella. This is seen, for example, in the manner in which the narrator captures Kino’s reaction when he is roused from sleep to discover that his wife Juana is sneaking out of their brush house with an end to going to the sea to get rid of the pearl since he has refused her plea to get rid of it. This is how it reads:

And rage surged in Kino. He rolled up to his feet and followed her as silently as she had gone, and he could hear her quick footsteps going toward the shore. Quietly he tracked her, and his brain was red with anger. Chapter V, pp 31

In the quote above , In one breath, the reader perceives Kino’s anger as a rage surging and a substance that gives a certain touch of redness to his brain.

Analysis of Symbols

The pearl itself is easily the single important symbol in the novella. It is difficult to delimit its meaning and significance to just one thing only. When it is first discovered by Kino, it is clearly considered to be a fortune. To that extent, therefore, it is a representation of divine providence in the life of Kino and his family. And going by the order of the incidents in the novella, it, in a way, also represents a divine compensation to Kino for the misfortune of the scorpion sting which had befallen his child, Coyotito, prior to the discovery of the pearl.

But on the other hand, the pearl becomes a corrupting influence, infecting the owner, as well as all the other people who hope to gain something out of it, with murderous greed. Thus, it is as much a symbol of good fortune as it is a symbol of a fall from a state of innocence to decadence.

The Scorpion

The scorpion in the story is a symbol of arbitrary misfortune and evil. Coyotito is a mere baby when the scorpion stings him, and it is significant that while the scorpion crawls up towards the child, he innocently giggles at it and reaches out to grab it. In other words, the child’s innocence and seeming gesture of cordiality towards the scorpion does not stop it from stinging him and leaving him poisoned with its lethal venom.

That is a veritable image of the relationship between good and evil. It evokes the old problem of what exactly might be the trigger or rationale of evil in the order of things in the first place. Evil seems to be an irruptive phenomenon, without any real reason or motivation, something commonly explored in the tragic sequence in art.

The boat in ‘ The Pearl ‘ symbolizes a cultural essence and a delicate heritage to be preserved. Kino’s boat was passed down from generation to generation until it got to him, and he cared for it with utmost care and pride. The destruction of the boat is seen as a worse evil than the killing of a man because a boat cannot protect itself, and a wounded boat cannot heal.

Why did Juana want to throw away the pearl?

Juana wanted to throw away the pearl because she believed that the pearl had an inherent evil that would upset the peaceful order of their family life and destroy them all.

What is the climax of ‘ The Pearl ‘?

A climax is the highest point of tension in a story. The climax of ‘ The Pearl’ by John Steinbeck is the shooting of Coyotito by the trackers and Kino’s subsequent attack on them.

What does the doctor symbolize in ‘ The Pearl ‘?

In John Steinbeck’s ‘ The Pearl,’ the doctor is both a character and a symbol. The doctor symbolizes, decadence, imperialism, greed, and wickedness. He is also a symbol of the exploitation of the colonialists.

What is the moral of the story of ‘The Pearl’ ?

One of the morals of the story is the dangers of greed. There are also lessons about injustice, luck, and exploitation. However, the author expressly states at the beginning of the narration that it is at the discretion of the reader to draw their own morals from the story.

What does the rifle symbolize in ‘The Pearl’ ?

The rifle symbolizes power in the story. The use of the rifle and the application of the power it symbolizes changes with whoever possesses it. For Kino’s neighbours and kinsmen, they perceive the rifle as a tool of oppression which the colonialists used to subdue them. For Kino, when he began to have grand designs for himself and his family, he began to perceive the rifle as a symbol of protection and luxury.

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About Israel Njoku

Israel loves to delve into rigorous analysis of themes with broader implications. As a passionate book lover and reviewer, Israel aims to contribute meaningful insights into broader discussions.

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John Steinbeck

• Literature Notes
• Essay Questions
• Book Summary
• About The Pearl
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Character Analysis
• Introduction
• The Doctor and the Priest
• John Steinbeck Biography
• Critical Essays
• Source of The Pearl
• A General Critical Approach
• Cite this Literature Note

Study Help Essay Questions

1. Discuss the various animal imagery that functions throughout the novel: the ants, the scorpion, the hissing snakes, the schools of fish, the oysters, the dogs, and the pearl buyers as octopuses, etc.

2. Describe in detail Kino and Juana's simple life before and after the discovery of the pearl.

3. How does Steinbeck characterize the doctor? How does he let the reader know that the white powder which the doctor administers to Coyotito is actually a poison which would kill the baby if the doctor did not return?

4. How does the priest function as a travesty of religion?

5. Why are the pearl buyers referred to as "fatherly" and "benevolent"? How does this contradict their real purposes? Are they also victimized?

6. Why are the "dark ones" and the trackers never identified? What is gained by Steinbeck's not identifying them?

7. A symbol can change its meaning during the course of a novel. How does the pearl change its meaning during the course of this novel?

8. Kino believes that it would be better to kill a person than to kill a canoe because a canoe has no relatives to revenge it. What types of values are operative in such a statement?

9. Kino and Juana function more or less on a primitive level in their lives and in their religion, yet they both want a church wedding and a christening for Coyotito. How are these values consistent with their lives? How are they contradictory?

10. What is the function of the many songs that Kino hears during the course of the novel?

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The Pearl Essay Examples

The theme of greed in the pearl by john steinbeck.

When wanting spirals into destruction, a family is broken apart, shattered by a rare discovery. A pearl that seems so pure, so innocent that it seems as if nothing evil can come from it. The Pearl by John Steinbeck appears to be a story about...

Literary Analysis of the Pearl by John Steinbeck

“Steinbeck illustrates the tragic consequences of the loss of that freedom of the spirit in The Pearl, expressing a profound sympathy for the individual and the community that suffers under such an oppressive system.” (Perkins). In The Pearl, John Steinbeck describes that he feels great...

Brutal Reality and Hardship: "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck

A lot of issues of the world rotate around the wealthy. In The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, he recounts the story of a couple and their child who experience the ill effects of the outcomes of needing. Subsequent to finding 'the pearl of the world,'...

Nothing Goes as Planned: "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck

Kino and his family were appreciative of everything they had, but when Kino discovers the pearl it shapes him to become a different person. He sees the pearl as a symbol of hope and protection. It holds wealth, which drives Kino into an ambition to...

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About The Pearl

John Steinbeck

United States, Mexico

The Pearl is a novella by the American author John Steinbeck. The story, first published in 1947, follows a pearl diver, Kino, and explores man’s purpose as well as greed, defiance of societal norms, and evil. Steinbeck's inspiration was a Mexican folk tale from La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, which he had heard in a visit to the formerly pearl-rich region in 1940.

The pearl, The Scorpion, Kino’s Canoe

Nature Imagery, Kino’s Songs

Greed, Dreams and Ambition, Family, Money versus Happiness.

Kino, Juana, The doctor

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