The Pearl By John Steinbeck: A Literary Analysis

In the novel The Pearl, the author, John Steinbeck, uses the pearl to symbolize many different things, such as hope, new opportunities, and destruction. Kino’s life was not perfect before the pearl, but I’m almost positive he would take that life over what he ended up with after the pearl had done it’s destruction. The pearl takes Kino and his family through these different phases and changes Kino as a man.
To begin, the pearl represents hope and new opportunities. When Kino discovers the pearl, excitement surrounds them and new ideas come to their minds about the new doors that the pearl could open, such as buying a rifle, sending Coyotito to school, or getting married in the church. Kino dreams, "My son will read ... and open the books,
Although the pearl gives new opportunities to Kino’s family, it slowly tears them apart and brings evil into their lives. At first, it looked like the pearl could only cause good, but then their home was broken into, Kino was attacked, and they didn’t have a safe place anymore. Over time, Juana and Kino discovered that they would like to accomplish different things with the pearl; Kino felt as if a rifle was needed while Juana did not. These events caused fights in their family as well as other parts of the town because nobody understood why Kino got to have the pearl when other people wanted that money just as much. People thought that if they couldn’t have that pearl, nobody should be able to. Kino’s family fell apart because of the pearl’s power and worth. Kino says, "They have taken the pearl. I have lost it, it is all over." (61). The realization of how much they were offered for the pearl compared to what they were originally told that it was worth made Kino and Juana very upset because they felt like they were being cheated and lied to but they needed to get rid of the pearl before it destroyed more than their home, regular lives, and