The Pearl: Vocab, Story, and Literary Analysis

La Paz, Mexico

A poor family that includes Kino, his wife Juana, and baby Coyotito.

A scorpion stings Coyotito, leaving him in much pain and hurt. Therefore, they take him to the doctor, but he refused to help the baby because they had no money to pay him and they were not of the same race.

That he is a very bitter, selfish man that only cares about money and does not have a kind heart.

Seaweed Poultice

Since he had no money to pay the doctor to heal the baby, he hoped to find pearls because they have great value and if he found one and sold it, he would have money to pay the doctor to treat Coyotito.

The small chance that he and his family have for success. And it finally helped them when Kino found a pearl.

At first, the pearl is a beacon of hope for Kino & his family. But as the greed and desire start to change Kino, it is a threat to destroy Kino. When Kino really changes, it is described as evil.

So, the pearl just mirrors the changes that Kino undergoes.

The doctor who refused to help Coyotito visited Kino with hopes that if he treated the baby, Kino would give him the pearl; Kinos neighbors/friends begin to feel bitter towards him for his good fortune; the priest visits them and reminds them to give thanks and to pray for guidance.

Things he has never even dreamed of before. When Juan asked him this, his eyes opened up to all the possibilities. Not only would he have money to treat the baby, but there would be money for other things he desired such as marriage, nice clothes, education for Coyotito, and a rifle.

The doctor treated Coyotito after he gained knowledge that Kino had a pearl (this also shows how greedy and cold hearted he is). Kino promises to pay him with the money from selling the pearl that he would sell the next day. That night, someone breaks in and tries to steal the pearl, but Kino chases him/her away.

Everyone is bitter and jealous towards him. Plus, everyone wonders what they would do if they had found the pearl.

He thought that nobody was offering to buy his peal for a fair price. He believed that it was worth fifty thousand and he got mad when everyone told him that his pearl was not so grand and only worth a thousand pesos.

That the pearl is evil and will destroy them.

The destruction of innocence, or evil.

a simple story that relays a moral lesson.

When he saw that Juana was going to throw the pearl into the ocean, he felt so much rage and was so obsessed with the pearl that he punched Juana and kicked her in the side to stop her, his own wife. However he still got the pearl back.

Because Kino had to kill a man that was trying to steal the pearl from him, and she knew that more people would attack him and break in to try to get the pearl, so she insists to go to the capital to sell it so all of the problems would go away.

When someone had torn up and set Kino’s house on fire out of jealousy and rage.

To Kinos brothers house, Juan Tomas and his wife Apolonia.

He says that he cant give up the quote because, as he said: “If I give it up I shall lose my soul.”

They realize that three trackers are looking for him to kill him and his family and get the pearl.

At first, the pearl is a simple and beautiful object of nature to the reader. Once it becomes entangled with notions of material value however, it becomes destructive and dangerous. The pearl is an object of natural beauty and goodness that can draw out the evil in mankind.

His heritage, or cultural tradition. It is also significant that Kino’s possession of the pearl leads directly to the canoes destruction, and event that symbolizes Kino’s decision to break with his heritage because all he cared about was to pursue material gain.

When Juana mentioned many times before that the pearl is evil and will destroy them.

To sneak up on them, then kill them.

Baby Coyotito cooing and crying, only they thought it was a coyote.

He kills two of the trackers. However, one of the trackers escaped up to a cave, where Juana and the baby were hiding, so Kino shoots him, only it didn’t hit the tracker, it shot Coyotito, causing him to die.

That it affected everyone in La Paz, for many different reasons, but it affected everyone.

Because they are literally being hunted down by the trackers like animals, and Kino is able to kill the trackers like a savage. Steinbeck also shows the loss of human qualities when Kino crawls naked to sneak up on the trackers so that his white clothing didn’t expose him. Also when Coyotito dies of getting shot because he was mistaken for a coyote pup.

The pearl of the world

a particular goal or aim : something that a person hopes to do or achieve

a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (as money) than is needed

a story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life or for a political or historical situation

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

Depressing

1945

a small group of people

Mexican drink that consists of the milky juice of the agave (a desert plant)

The beggars, the people who have spent their lives trying to gain money, are actually the people who are the financial experts, the people who know how to use the money wisely.

The doctor is mean, selfless, and greedy. All he cares about about is getting money, even though the people that need help are just like him.

poor enough to need help from others

The racial tensions described in this part were that it shows how the Mexicans used to be slaves for the Europeans, which was the doctor. The Mexicans, like Kino, were treated like simple animals. It also shows how the doctor acts as if he was superior to the others.

humbly entreating

the wide part of a river where it nears the sea; fresh and salt water mix

a triangular fore-and-aft sail used especially in the Mediterranean

Represents hope. In this song, the songs represent something that the people value.

Steinbeck is showing that there are no equal rights. The Spanish King showed that the poor had to work for the rich. The US is really powerful and others see it as abuse for power. (Military)

This is the possibility that there is hope.

Greed

“as large as a seagull’s egg”

The town is like an animal because it lives like one. Every single town has its own feelings and behavior, which is similar an animal. The gossips and rumors flow around quickly like the blood inside of its system. No two towns are alike, just like any other animal.

Alms are money or food given to poor people.

The people in the pearl market are anxious. There is only one person controlling the market, and he has people in different offices so that it looks like competition, when the money is going to one man.

Because of Kino’s pearl, people are now showing jealousy or envy towards him. The men begin to think of the benefits the pearl could bring them, instead of feeling happy for Kino. Some people might begin to avoid him, or create fake friendships with him because of his pearl. This can also make people want to steal from Kino, making Kino unsafe around the people he sees every day.

Envy, jealousy, and greed filled the town. The author is comparing the scorpion bite to the town.

The shawl represents Juana’s motherly love, care, shelter, and protection for her child, protecting him from evil.

lt is like greed. She fears that greed will take over them and destroy them. I think that Juana is right, because greed can destroy your life and relationship with God.

a long narrow depression in a surface

This says that everyone is born into a status, meaning that if you are born rich, then you must stay that way, and if you are born poor, then it must stay that way too. This is not democratic, because there are no equal rights among the statuses. Kino was poor and about to become rich, which according to the Father, he was violating.