Essay, Research Paper: The Pearl

The Pearl

The novel that I chose is The Pearl. It is a greatly written book from John Steinbeck. I chose this book because it seemed interesting when the teacher talked about it. Another reason is that it looked small. But boy was I wrong!!! The words are small but when I read the book, it seemed pretty long! Even with it being unbelievably long for a book its size, I really liked it.

Summary

The story is about a poor family that lives in Mexico. They make a living from collecting pearls and selling them. The whole neighborhood lives in houses that are made out of straws and are called brush houses. The family consists of Kino (the father and the hero), Juana (the mother), and Coyoyito (the baby). One day as the family was eating breakfast, Coyoyito got stung by a scorpion. This grieved the family very much. Kino and Juana had only one choice: to go to the doctor. His race (the Indian race) hates the doctor's race, which is the white race. But what had to be done had to be done, Coyoyito was in great pain and he was going to die without the proper treatment. But when they arrived at the doctor's mansion, the doctor's servant confronted them. He asked what they wanted and they showed him Coyoyito. He felt no mercy and went to his master. The doctor didn't care for the baby and only wanted money because he was indulged with greed. The family gave him what they have: six scrawny looking pearls. The doctor got infuriated from this and told to go away and refused to treat Coyoyito. This got Kino so mad that he punched the mansion's gate.

The parents got extremely desperate so they had to find a pearl that was worth Coyoyito's treatment. They all went to the sea. Kino dived and picked all the shells as fast as he could. But then he found the biggest shell he has ever seen. He quickly took it then went back on his canoe. He opened it and found the biggest pearl he has ever seen. Because of this, he let out a cry of joy. Every pearl fisher nearby heard the cry. They thought something bad happened so they came to check what's happening. But now they all saw it: the pearl of the world.
As fast as you can say "zipper", all the villagers knew about it, including the doctor. The doctor started bragging about how he is treating Coyoyito's sting. And by saying this, he went to pay the family a visit. Before coming, Kino hid the pearl in a safe place. When he (doctor) arrived, he started to treat Coyoyito. And when he asked when they are going to pay him, Kino said that he is going to sell the pearl the next day and give him his money.
At night, when everybody was sleeping, Kino heard footsteps. He took his knife then went out for the robber. He did not find out who it is because it was dark and the robber quickly fled.
The next morning, Kino went to the market to go sell his pearl to some pearl buyers. But when he got there, they did nothing but rip him off and on top of that they said it was worthless. Kino refused their offer and just left.
At night, a stranger attacked him. The stranger cut him and fled. Juana was now getting worried sick. She now hated the pearl. The next night, a stranger again attacked him but Kino didn't let the stranger go. He killed him with his knife. Now Juana got really sick of the pearl. She took it wanted to throw it at the sea. Kino quickly rushed to her and hit her and beat her. But she did not care for the beating he gave her, because she is strong and wise woman. She did not even cry. But they all had to move quickly because they couldn't get away with the killing. They burned their house then went to Juan's (Kino's brother) house. The next day they fled. But trackers were following them. Kino decided to go hide in the mountains and for sure they (the trackers) wouldn't find them there. But he was wrong. The trackers followed them. There was a man with a rifle, which was the watcher Kino wanted to steal the rifle from the watcher, who was the leader of the trackers. Kino would then kill the other two men. But suddenly little Coyoyito started to cry. The men thought it was a little coyote pup cry. But the watcher didn't think so. He thought it was the baby itself. He took his rifle then aimed for the mountains from where the baby was crying. Kino quickly leapt forward towards the watcher but it was to late, the watcher let out a shot. But Kino grew angry and took the rifle and had no mercy for all of them. He shot them one by one.
Upon entrance to the village everybody was excited. They thought the family was dead. Kino took the pearl and went to the beach. He shot the pearl out on the open sea. Because the pearl was for the good of Coyoyito.









































Analysis

I really liked this book. It was well written and very understandable. Stein Beck did a great job by writing this book and must have won numerous awards for this piece of literature. Some people may have a different opinion, but I find this book outstanding. The character that I liked the most is Juana. She is calm and very wise. She makes me think of myself. She is also very strong (there you go, another example of me) especially when her husband hit her. She did not even cry. I think that her husband should of at least listened to her. She could of been very helpful to him. If they had of thrown the pearl or just sold it for the price the buyers gave, I think Coyoyito would have been alive now.
I don't really have anything against the book meaning I don't want to criticize it because it is a really good book. But there is one thing that I found annoying. It's the length of the book. Everybody thinks that this book is short, but it is long, I think longer than the usual grade eleven books. And another thing that I found annoying, the action began in the first couple of pages when the scorpion stung Coyoyito. I think it would have been much better if it were a bit "further", that if he got stung in the second chapter or something. Not that I mean that it would of been better if he got stung, but it would of sounded more intense. But there are more pros than cons in this book and I find that great.