Book Report The Pearl

October 20th, 2014
Character’s Fear in John Steinbeck’s novel, The Pearl According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. A fear of something doesn’t necessarily have to come from a physical object, like a spider; a fear could also come from an intangible object, such as change in circumstances. People cope with fears in different ways. Some people choose to hide their fear, while other people choose to face it. In John Steinbeck’s novel, The Pearl, Kino, Juana, and the Doctor all show some type of fear. Kino has more fears then he lets on. Kino, being the man of the house, must act strong and hide his fear, while his wife, Juana, expresses her fear in losing her child. The Doctor who “treated” Coyotito also expresses fear in the loss of his luxury and wealth. The Doctor indulges in his wealth and once Kino and Juana find the pearl, the Doctor heads over to their house to get what wealth he can get his hands on. The main protagonist of the book is Kino, who is the husband of Juana. Kino is shown as being a family man who maintains his life with Juana in the most beautiful and simplistic way. Kino finds “The Pearl of the World” and has visions of what his life will be like now that he has enough money to support his family. He would like to remarry his wife in a church, baptize his child, educate his child, etc. Kino can only imagine what he would do with all this money. With this, Kino fears the greed that comes with having wealth. Many people who come across this type of wealth forget where they come from. Kino doesn’t want to be like that. He wants to spread his wealth with his neighbours and his relatives. He doesn’t want to leave anybody behind. The novel states that, “Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl…” (3.30), which shows that the pearl isn’t Kino’s, but is the whole neighbour hood’s pearl. Kino would share the wealth with his neighbours. Kino didn’t want the pearl to change him as a person. As it says in the novel, “From now on they (neighbours) would watch Kino and Juana very closely to see whether riches turned their heads, as riches turn all people’s heads.” (3.46), which shows that the neighbours are watching whether Kino’s greatest fear of greed will come back to haunt him. Kino’s ability to maintain his composure through the novel shows that he is able to hide his fear very well. Whenever something evil or good happens, Kino has a theme music that plays in his head. Kino fears the evil music. As readers, we are aware of when the evil theme music is playing. While we know what music is playing, Juana is unaware of how Kino is feeling. An example of when the evil music was playing was when they went to the pearl dealers, “He heard in his ears the evil music. And on the black velvet the great pearl glistened, so that the dealer could not keep his eyes from it.” (4.42). Kino feared the evil music, but when the dealers rejected the pearl, he left with his head held strong. He showed Juana that they had nothing to fear, but he was really dying on the inside from the evil music. Although Kino had fears which were unknown to Juana, she had fears which she made aware to Kino. Juana repeated told Kino that she was afraid of losing Coyotito, their son. Coyotito was bitten by a scorpion and needed aid from a doctor. The doctor refused to see Coyotito simply because they had no money. Once they found the pearl, the doctor came “willingly” (for the pearl) to help the boy who needed assistance. As we see Coyotito health fluctuate from being healthy to being unwell, we see how Juana reacts. Once Coyotito was bit, Juana was hysterically crying because she thought her worse fear was going to become a reality. Juana loved her son like any mother would, and the thought of losing him made her feel sick. Once she saw Coyotito recover from the bite, she was ecstatic. She shared this excitement with Kino and the neighbourhood. The town was talking about how the pearl saved the boy’s life. Without the pearl, the doctor wouldn’t have come. A minor character in this novel is the Doctor (no real name was given). The doctor may be a minor character, but he played a role in the recovery of Coyotito. The only reason why the doctor went to Kino and Juana’s house to treat Coyotito was because of the pearl. The pearl was of value and is known to be “The Pearl of the World”. If the Doctor treated Coyotito, he could ask for the pearl as payment. By saying this, we know that the Doctor’s biggest fear is the loss in his wealth and luxury. He sits around thinking about places in the world and all the money he has. He cannot live without his wealth. As it says in the novel, “The Doctor, back in his house, settled into his chair and looked at his watch. His people (servants) brought him a little supper of chocolate and sweet cakes and fruit, and he stared at the food discontentedly.” (3.49). The reason why the Doctor stared at the food “discontentedly” was because he was thinking of the pearl and all the money the pearl would bring him. Money is powerful, but the lack of it causes uncertainty in the future. In conclusion, each character is shown to be emotionally strong. The characters do not like to display their weakness. Fear could be considered a weakness. Kino and the Doctor choose to hide their fears, while Juana confides her fear in Kino. Based on Kino’s actions, he fears that the greed will get to him and make him a different person. He also fears that the “evil music” will play, which signifies that something bad is about to happen. Based on the character’s actions, Juana fears in the loss of her child, while the Doctor fears in the loss of his wealth and luxury. Although many of these fears are different, a fear reflects on what one person believes will cause harm to them. These characters believe that these fears will come and cause harm. A fear doesn’t make you a less of a person, but rather shapes your character.