THE PEARL - social commentary

It is obvious to most readers that The Pearl seeks to illuminate the struggle of the underclass, especially when also battling blatant racism and bigotry – and the simple hopes of hardworking men who want nothing more than an education for their sons and daughters and the tools to establish a better life for themselves. Steinbeck also notes the pure greed and usurious nature of most capitalistic middlemen - especially with regards to the element of collusion and false competition within a captive market comprised of men and women who are economically uneducated – and the depths to which many men of greed and lust for money will sink to in order to achieve wealth.

This is not simply a negative and reactionary tale however – it also extols the simplest and heartwarming virtues that are possessed of persons of all means. The Song of the Family, in the waking hours of the day, resonating deep within the bosom of husband, wife, and child – is completely independent of material wealth. This song is comprised of soundless lyrics that are completely incorporeal and yet as real as The Pearl and of infinitely greater value – the true tragedy and folly visited upon Kino, who in his hope for a better life for his family perhaps gambled too greatly.

In summation The Pearl is a short read, yet emotionally captivating and compelling to the last word. It is a great example of the depth of John Steinbeck's literary work and still has a very valuable message to impart to the modern reader. Blending a populist and cultural social criticism along with a touching and personal story in such a short span of words shows talent and inspiration – this volume is possessed of both.

THE PEARL - The Song of the Family

John Steinbeck has long been understood to be a very intelligent author who infuses his work with a populist flavour that allows the reader to empathize with his protagonists, to live their struggles, and to ultimately draw a great deal of knowledge and reflection from the realm of fiction and literature. The Pearl is a stunning example of this capability – both in its capacity to appeal to pathos and beauty as well as in its cutting critique of capitalistic extortion and human greed.

The story of The Pearl centers around a very poor family comprised of husband Kino, wife Juana, and their infant child, Coyotito. A family of few words, and fishers by trade for generations, the narrative begins with a beautiful, placid morning on the marina where, in verbal silence, the Song of the Family is played out through the chores of the morning and the intangible bonds of familial love.

The infant is soon bitten by a scorpion, and falls gravely ill. The nearest doctor from town, a mean-hearted elitist with little time for savage children, is only interested in serving as Coyotito's physician upon news that Kino, in his desperate prayers, has found within an oyster the largest and most lustrous pearl to grace the earth.

Kino is wise to the ways of men and recalls the history of his grandfather's time – when such pearls had to be traded abroad due to the fact that all of the appraisers and buyers in town were in collusion, presenting a facade of competition when really they were all owned and owed their livelihood to a single wealthy investor. The pearl is his salvation from poverty, to Kino it is an avenue of escape and a means of procuring an education and clean clothes for Coyotito as well as, in his wildest dreams, a rifle with which to hunt.

The conflict, climax, and denouement of the narrative involves extortion and deceit on the part of them moneylenders and traders – seeking to rob this uppity native of his pearl - and when that fails, outright murder and thievery fills the scene.

THE PEARL - characters

Coyotito

Coyotito, Kino and Juana's infant son, is the catalyst for his parents' obsession with the pearl. Both of his parents want the pearl to help pay for his recovery from the scorpion sting and for his education, so that he will not be limited by the same oppression under which his parents have suffered.

Doctor

The doctor is part of the system that oppresses Kino and his family. The villagers know "his cruelty, his avarice, his appetites," his laziness, and his incompetence. His sense of superiority prompts him to regard Kino and his neighbors as animals and so determines that he need not treat them. Only after he learns of Kino's pearl does he offer help so that he may be able to get his hands on it and regain the luxurious life he has enjoyed in Paris. To that end, he deceives Kino and Juana about Coyotito's illness and his own powers as a healer.

Juan Tomas

Kino's brother Juan Tomas provides Kino with shelter and wise counsel.

Juana

Juana is a dutiful wife who rises every morning to make breakfast for her family. She exhibits a fierce, instinctual need to protect her child as evidenced by her clearheaded response to the scorpion's sting and her insistence that they take him to the doctor, knowing that there is little chance that the doctor will see him yet ready to face the resulting shame. Coyotito is Juana's first baby and so he is "nearly everything there was in [her] world."

Her strength and endurance, however, are her most dominant qualities. Kino "wondered often at the iron in his patient, fragile wife" who "could arch her back in child pain with hardly a cry" and "stand fatigue and hunger almost better than Kino himself." He notes that "in the canoe she was like a strong man." Although patient with and obedient to her husband, she tries to convince him to throw away the pearl when she recognizes the danger it brings.

Her endurance is displayed after Kino beats her. As he stands over her with his teeth bared, she stares as him "with wide unfrightened eyes." She accepts that he had been driven over the edge of reason and decided "she would not resist or even protest." As a result, Kino's rage disappears and is replaced by disgust for what he has done to her.

Juana shows a great and patient understanding of her husband. After he beats her, she feels no anger toward him, recognizing that as a man "he was half insane and half god." She knows that he will "drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea" and that he would inevitably be destroyed by both. Although puzzled by the differences she recognizes between men and women, she "knew them and accepted them and needed them" because as an Indian woman "she could not live without a man." She then determines to follow him, hoping that her reason, caution, and "sense of preservation could cut through Kino's manness and save them all." Juana endures the pain of her injuries as she escapes with Kino and Coyotito.

Her ability to defy her husband by attempting to throw the pearl in the sea while admitting that she could not survive without him reveals her great courage. She is driven by her need to "rescue something of the old peace, of the time before the pearl." Yet after Kino kills his attacker, she shows her resilience when she immediately admits that the past was gone, "and there was no retrieving it. And knowing this, she abandoned the past instantly. There was nothing to do but to save themselves." The death of her child appears to break her, however. As she walks back to the village at the end of the story, "her wide eyes stared inward on herself" and she "was as remote and as removed as Heaven.

Kino

Even though he lives in poverty, Kino is content at the beginning of the story because he is surrounded by the family he loves. It is only after his child's life is threatened by the scorpion bite that Kino determines that he will rebel against the system that oppresses him.

He is connected to his ancestors through their songs, which he often hears in his head. The frequency of the Family Song and the Enemy Song suggests his strong link to those ancestors as well as to his environment. Kino experiences a combination of rage and fear as he confronts his oppressors, showing strength as well as an intuitive assessment of the reality of his position. He is a proud man who feels shame when he stirs up the courage to challenge that position and is rebuffed.

Like Juana, he is a responsible parent who strives to provide the best life possible for his child. This commitment gives him the courage to rebel against the status quo by calling on the doctor, by refusing to accept the offer from the pearl buyers, and by fleeing the village after he murders one of his attackers. His loyalty is also expressed toward his neighbors when it does not even occur to him to take one of their boats during his escape.

His obsession with the pearl is prompted by his desire for respect and power, but most importantly for the education of his child. He wants to be able to marry Juana, to buy a rifle that can "[break] down the barriers," to dress his family in nice clothes, and finally to enable his son to free himself and his people from subjugation.

Kino's fierce desire to provide for and protect his family reduces him to a primal state. Ironically that desire to provide for them causes him to viciously attack Juana. Later, after he kills his attacker, the narrator concludes that Kino is "an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he lived only to preserve himself and his family." This primal nature enables him to escape his trackers, at least initially. The narrator notes that "some ancient thing stirred in Kino. some animal thing was moving in him so that he was cautious and wary and dangerous." At the end of the story, he appears broken as he retains his primal state. He, along with Juana, appears "removed from human experience." He "carried fear with him" and "he was as dangerous as a rising storm."

THE PEARL - metaphor

While the story has its symbols and large allegorical sentiments, every facet of the tale is transcribed into metaphor. Even the minds of the Indian people are as "unsubstantial as the mirage of the Gulf." Further, they are clouded as if the mud of the sea floor has been permanently disturbed to block their vision. Even the city as seat of the colonial administration is given metaphorical animation: "A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet."

In a moment of foreshadowing, Kino watches as two roosters prepare to fight. He then notices wild doves flying inland where later Kino will prepare to fight his pursuers. Juana is like an owl when she watches Kino sneaks down the cliff. Earlier, when the watering hole was described, feathers left by cats that had dragged their prey there are noticed. Those with feathers die. On the other hand, Kino is no longer an animal. Instead, when Kino kills the men who are tracking him he is a machine. He is efficient and without noise, like the cats playing with their doomed prey. He is killing to survive. The metaphor that is mixed in with this scene of tension and action is in keeping with the style of the rest of the work, while also lending it a realistic dimension.

THE PEARL - symbolism

The story is full of symbolism of the talismanic, allegorical, and ironic kind. The Pearl itself is a symbol of escape for the poor man, but it also symbolizes the effects of greed on man. Worse than that, Steinbeck sets up the Pearl to embody the whole of the European Conquest of the Americas. He does this by saying that Pearl bed in which it was found, is the same pearl bed that raised the King of Spain to be the greatest in the world. Historically, then, this pearl bed represents the gold, silver, and raw resources that Spain extracted from the New World at the height of that nation's empire. Now, this same pearl bed lures in a victim of that colonialism to dream of an easy escape from poverty.

The pearl is a talisman: an object that comes to be interchangeable with a man or an idea. At one point Kino views the Pearl as his soul and vows to keep it. For Kino, the success of the Pearl's sale will indicate his success. The Pearl stands opposite to the canoe that at once stands for his family and is a sure bulwark against starvation. When he makes it known that he will pursue wealth by venturing on his own to the great city, his canoe is sabotaged. This is a crime greater than homicide for it is a direct assault on Kino's family — worse than burning down the house.

Irony arises in the name of the village: La Paz or peace. The town is only peaceful because the majority of the people are demoralized. Their peace is one of an oppressed people. The Pearl stirs up this peace and only bloodshed restores calm.

The Indians are constantly presented as innocent primitives further duped by the superstition of the Catholic Church. They are also, and Kino especially, compared to animals. In their daily habits of fishing and gathering they are like the hungry dogs and pigs described as searching the shore for easy meals. More exactly, Kino howls, the trackers sniff and whine, the baby's yelps sound like its namesake — the Coyote. Animals have roles as well. The Watcher's horse raises the European above the Indians; this advantage is used to conquer the hemisphere.

THE PEARL - allegory

An allegory takes many forms. One form of allegory is that of a type of fiction more or less symbolic in feature intending to convey a meaning which is not explicitly set forth within the narrative. Allegories usually involve a journey that a character makes toward spiritual growth. Kino's story is an allegory: his journey affords him a small amount of personal growth and a variety of lessons to meditate on. The plot is simple: a man finds the Pearl of the world but he does not gain happiness and throws it back. Within this narrative are many hidden meanings. The story tells us that man is in the dark and needs to wake up. Therefore, the opening shows Kino waking in the night, which is allegorical, but because the Cock has been crowing for some time we know that he has been trying to gain a consciousness — literally wake up — to his people's plight.

Another message is that journeys should be made in communion, not just the company, of another. Kino should be in a leadership position amongst his people because of his fortuitous discovery. But he is not leading them. He tries to sell the Pearl, which could have ruptured the economic system and provided economic opportunity for his people. Instead he falls prey to doubt and decides to go for the big city leaving his people ignorant of his mission. Kino decides to make his own way and is followed by his wife. He returns with her, but they are still alone and everything is the same as before.

THE PEARL - epigraph

Epigraphs are like little appetizers to the great entrance of a story. They illuminate important aspects of the story, and they get us headed in the right direction.

"In the town they tell the story of the great pearl – how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man's mind. And, as with all retold tales that are in people's hearts, there are only good and bad things and black and white things and good and evil things and no in-between anywhere.

"If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it. In any case, they say in the town that…"

First of all, it’s questionable whether the is technically an epigraph, or whether it’s part of the story. Epigraphs are traditionally quotes from other sources that lie outside the work itself; this is clearly fictional and written by the author, so it functions more to set a tone than imbue a message.

What the epigraph does is tell us how to read The Pearl: as a parable. The story of Kino is not the story of just Kino, and the pearl is about more than just a pearl. It’s letting us know to keep a look-out for allegory and veiled significance. The last bit of the epigraph – "they say in the town that" – sets us up for the tone of the novella. Steinbeck is presenting his work in the tradition of oral storytelling. It reads as though we’re being spoken to.