Preview

John Steinbeck Writing of the Pearl

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
473 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
John Steinbeck Writing of the Pearl
John Steinbeck was a novelist who dropped out of Stanford University. He later perused a career as a novelist and won The Nobel Prize in 1962 for his literature. (“John Steinbeck- Biography,” 2012) John Steinbeck was able to become successful even without the help of a college degree. He used many personal experiences in many of his writings.

John Steinbeck wrote the novel The Pearl based on his own personal experiences. John Steinbeck also completed many other novels. John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath prior to writing The Pearl. The Grapes of Wrath was an achievement for Steinbeck for he won many achievements for his writing. He won the annual National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize and was also rewarded with the Nobel Prize in 1962 for this novel. ("Wikipedia")

John Steinbeck wrote The Pearl in 1947 while he was at the top of his career after winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath. By the time Steinbeck was writing The Pearl he already had become accustomed to the fame. The novel is a parable, which means a lesson is taught. The pearl in this novel becomes a metaphor for Heaven because Kino, the main character makes the pearl itself his priority and life. The pearl is always in his mindset. Kino thinks of all the joys of having the pearl as well as living with God in Heaven. Steinbeck uses the parable to reflect the American dream of success. Steinbeck was able to quickly rise to fame and fortune and was able to prosper quickly, as well as Kino was.

A second inspiration for The Pearl is the tale of a Mexican boy that was told in Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez. The boy in the original tale wanted to use the clothes to purchase alcohol, clothing, and sexual activity. (Cogan) Some of which were portrayed in Steinbeck’s novel The Pearl. Several points from the tale including the rapacious dealers and the attacks on the boy to find the pearl Steinbeck did include in the final copy of the novel.

Overall, Steinbeck wrote the novel The



Cited: Cogan, Allen. "The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck." . MexConnect , 15 February 2006. Web. 3 Oct 2012. . "John Steinbeck - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 3 Oct 2012 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1962/steinbeck-bio.html "The Grapes of Wrath." Wikipedia. N.p., 02 October 2012. Web. 3 Oct 2012. .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Of Mice and Men and The Pearl may be two different books, but they have more in common than what might meet the eye. Both books, written by John Steinbeck, involve characters who relate to one another because of their lifestyles and daily situations. These six, all males, are made up of Lennie and Coyotito, George and Kino, and Curley and the doctor.…

    • 569 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within the Pearl John Steinbeck uses quite a few techniques to show the cause and effect of such misfortune and imperfection. John Steinbeck evokes themes of the destructive power of greed, wealth, racism, and the loss of innocence and contentment within the Pearl by showing it through the dialogues and characterisations of individuals, for example the Doctor, by looking at the dialogues and characterisation of the Doctor, readers can easily figure out that he is…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in the town of Salinas, California. Salinas was an agricultural trading center with ties to the farms and ranches in the area. Steinbeck's father, John Steinbeck Sr., was in the flour-milling business and through it supported his family of three daughters and one son. Steinbeck was a good student and a great writer even at an early age; he wrote stories for his high school paper. (Lisca 1-4)…

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fortunately, by touring the National Steinbeck Center, I was able to learn how Steinbeck came to write The Pearl and his original plans for the work. After befriending Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck frequently took small trips with him along the California coast as a break from his writing. On one trip, Steinbeck financed a scientific collecting trip to Baja California with Ed, in which he visited La Paz, Mexico, and learned about the folk tale of the pearl. Enthralled, he completed the manuscript for The Pearl in 1945 originally as a movie script, and in 1947, The Pearl was turned into a film, which became the first Mexican movie to be widely distributed in America. It feels so special being able to have read a book with such an interesting history behind…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    At the end of “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck, Kino felt guilty and decides to throw the pearl back into the sea. The pearl symbolizes greed and suggests wealth could bring contentment while also teaching a lesson.Kino fantasized all the possibilities for his family when Juan Tomas asked him, “What will you do now that you have become a rich man?” (pg 24) KIno then stated, “We will get married at the church”, “Have new clothes”, “Have a rifle”, and “My son will go to school.” (pg 24-25) When Kino tried to sell the pearl to fulfill his dreams, the dealer stated, “This pearl is like fool’s gold..It is large and clumsy, As a curiosity it has interest; some museum might perhaps take it to place in collection of seashells. I can give you, say, a…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    3. Perkins, Barbara M. "Steinbeck, John." World Book Online Reference Center. 2009. [Place of access.] 31 March 2009 .…

    • 732 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Pearl could have brought him success and education, a big, suited house, and care and love for and from others. Him and his family could have had a great life filled with health and joy. Because of fear of regret he loses many opportunities. Through the essay the reader acknowledges that regret and fear are another way of telling you to back out. In time of anger, people make bad decisions. That is why Kino could have led a his life deftly using the Pearl. Like Lucille Ball once stated, " I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steinbeck's book The Pearl concentrates on the atrocities Kino commits as the pearl blackens his soul and how he attempts to stabilize his relationships. Kino's determination…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The year of 1902 in Salinas, California, John Steinbeck was born. At the time many did not and would not think much of him for several years; however, he would eventually grow to become one of the most influential authors of his and our time. The works Of MIce and Men and The Grapes of Wrath are still read in schools today, forever immortalizing his work and his thoughts on how life was during the Great Depression and the dust bowl. Seeing how long his works have survived for truly shows his skills and how well done his books are.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Steinbeck was the 1962 Nobel Prize Winner and in his speech he had many connections to one of his famous books, Of Mice and Men. He talked about the hard times that humanity had faced such as the Great Depression, World War 2, Korean war, and Civil Rights movements. In these times humans started to do non human like things to survive. Steinbeck has lived through both the highs and lows of humanity, and the time between the publishment of the book Of Mice and Men to the acceptance of his Nobel Prize, was a miserable and despairing time. His book had many similar themes and connections to what the outside world was like. In both Of Mice and Men and his Nobel Prize Speech, Steinbeck describes how life is full of difficult choices and the…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Steinbeck Outline

    • 808 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As demonstrated in four of Steinbeck's works, The Pearl, Of Mice and Men, “The Chrysanthemums”, and “The Leader of the People”, his characters' dreams and aspirations fail as forces beyond their control work to constrain them.…

    • 808 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902 in Salinas, California. He died at the age of 64 on December 20, 1968. Steinbeck is best known for his novels; East of Eden in 1952, The Grapes of Wrath in 1939, and Of Mice and Men in 1937. His mother was a school teacher, and his father a Monterey County Treasurer. Often, Steinbeck himself worked on local farms as a laborer (“John”). He attended Stanford studying both marine biology and English, but after making the decision to pursue writing Steinbeck never completed his degree.In 1940 Steinbeck was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath establishing himself as a writer, as well as A Nobel Prize in literature in 1962 (John).…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steinbeck's The Pearl is one of his most intriguing pieces. Steinbeck manages to fit many different ideas into a short novella that is under a hundred pages. However, what makes The Pearl truly a great book is his critique of colonial society, and the interaction of Native Americans and colonists. Steinbeck emphasizes the differences between the colonists and the native Indians by using such symbols as the relationship between town and village, education, and instinct. Steinbeck also shows that he views changing one's station, or attempting to, as foolish and impossible, but that trying to is needed to provide an example for others.…

    • 2115 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Steinbeck in his parable-like novel The Pearl embraces the dark power of greed, which ultimately results in destruction. Kino, a simple Mexican pearl diver who provides for his wife Juana and baby boy Coyotito, finds a pearl, which he hopes will provide his family a better life, but instead shatters his life when his only child is killed by the men who are hunting him. Using a biblical style, uncomplicated language, and rich imagery, Steinbeck relates this story to universal values. In The Pearl, animal imagery is an essential motif that infiltrates the structure of the novel. Steinbeck utilizes animal imagery to foreshadow Kino's catastrophe, to illustrate Kino's character decline, and to symbolize the corruption of civilization.…

    • 863 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, is about a man named Kino, and his wife Juana, and their baby named Coyotito. When Coyotito gets stung by a scorpion the doctor refuses to help the baby until he gets a payment. So Juana and Kino go search for a payment that will persuade the doctor to help their baby. When searching for a payment they find a great pearl that changes their lives forever. The pearl cause Kino to kill, fight, have greed, and other horrible things. So Kino’s discovery of that pearl was a stroke of bad luck.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays