Pearl By John Steinbeck Literary Analysis

In the short novel The Pearl by John Steinbeck, some people are willing to do some very bad things all because of greed. People are willing to burn down homes and even kill, all because of a poor man's pearl. In the beginning of our story our main characters (Kino, Juana, and their son Coyotito) are Native Mexicans who are very poor and living in a hut village on the Gulf of California, near La Paz (otherwise know as the town of stone and plaster). They wake up one morning to find a scorpion on the verge of attacking their son. Kino attempts to knock the scorpion away but it falls and stings his son, making him very ill. The doctor in La Paz will not treat them because he is a racist and will only do something for money (which they have none of). These next examples will show how materialism and greed can lead to things such as violence and immoral behavior. Once he is rejected by the doctor, Kino goes pearl diving to attempt and get some money for the treatment of his son. Inevitably he comes up with a
magnificent pearl, which will be more that enough to pay the doctor, and would be very valuable. This is where things start to go wrong and people just become greedier and greedier. Kino starts wanting much more things than just for his son to get well, he starts to want some things like new clothes, a rifle, to get properly married, and for his son to go to school, none of the things are what the pearl was originally intended for. Some people are even sent to try and steal the pearl, and harm Kino in the process. And now the doctor wants to treat the baby, but Juana's poultice worked and he is healed, so the doctor poisons his own patient just because he wants some extra money for himself. This shows how greed is taking effect on the region, and everyone wants Kino’s new found wealth. Later in the middle- beginning of the end of the book, 2 more people come and try to steal the pearl, also hurting Kino with a Knife this time. Then Kino finally decides that he will go and sell the pearl to get the money from it. The whole “tribe” of Native Mexicans follows him into the city to see him sell the pearl, but the pearl buyers think that Kino is a fool and try and lowball him but, infuriated, he says that he will not sell them the pearl, this shows how greedy everyone in the region has become. The next day Kino is attacked by another person trying to steal the pearl, and in the process kills the attacker, but he then sees that 2 more attackers have burned down his home in an attempt to get the pearl. Kino is now without a home, but he still has the pearl. This shows how the people have become so greedy that they are willing to try and kill and vandalize just to gain some unneeded wealth. Now Kino, Juana, and Coyotito are all considered murderers, and they have to hide out with Kino’s brother Juan Tomas, and wife Apollonia, before they are forced to take what little they have left and run away with the pearl.
They run away and have to cover their tracks in fear of being tracked. And then, they notice that they are being followed by a group of trackers, who most likely will kill them and take the pearl for themselves. The trackers then follow them into the into the mountains where they are hiding out for the night, and they think they hear some coyote baby crying or whining in a cave (it is actually Coyotito). One of the trackers brings up a rifle and shoots into the cave to make the “coyote” stop. Right as the gun fires Kino jumps down and kills one tracker, then quickly eliminating the rest with the use of the rife. This shows how people have become so greedy that a total of 5 people have been killed just because some people wanted
wealth. Those examples show how greed and materialism left unchecked can lead to violence and immoral behavior. I showed how a doctor was willing to poison a baby just to gain more money than he would get in the first place. How several people were willing to burn down a home and almost kill just for some money. And how trackers went after them, only to kill them and take the pearl for themselves. All this evidence that I have listed proves how greed can lead to many bad things in The Pearl.