What is a short summary of the Pearl?
It is a parable about a Mexican Indian pearl diver named Kino who finds a valuable pearl and is transformed by the evil it attracts. Kino sees the pearl as his opportunity for a better life. When the townsfolk of La Paz learn of Kino’s find, he is immediately set upon by a greedy priest, a doctor, and businessmen.
What kind of lifestyle do they have in the Pearl?
What kind of lifestyle do they have? Kino and Juana live a simple life in a brush house on the beach with other people from their culture. They live outside of the city of stone and plaster. There is not much conversation between Kino and Juana; they have a routine about their life.
What is the main theme of the Pearl?
In ”The Pearl” by John Steinbeck, the theme of the destructive power of greed is explored as the characters navigate their personal desires, destiny, and racism. We will explore the devastating effect of Kino’s sudden change from being poor but happy, to possibly instantly wealthy.
How is the pearl described in the Pearl?
The pearl is a symbol of wealth which is quite ambivalent in its nature throughout the novel. When Kino first finds the pearl, it is a symbol of hope and salvation. But like wealth, the pearl represents all the evil in the world. It seems all the greed and evil surfaces in the presence of wealth.
What is the moral lesson of the pearl?
The Pearl is a parable, a moral lesson, about gratitude and the dangers of greed. Because parables offer a moral lesson, being grateful for the things one already has serves as the theme.
Why does Kino wear his hat at a tilt?
“Kino put on his large straw hat and felt it with his hand to see that it was properly placed, not on the back or side of his head, like a rash, unmarried, irresponsible man, and not flat as an elder would wear it, but tilted forward to show aggressiveness and seriousness and vigor.”
What does Kino do after he finds the great pearl?
Before the pearl is found, he refuses to heal Coyotito because the family is poor, though it would be easy for him to do so. After Kino finds the pearl, he personally visits the family at home, acting much friendlier than at their first meeting and even pretending to heal Coyotito’s scorpion sting with ammonia.
Who killed the baby in the Pearl?
Coyotito’s scream is mistaken by the trackers as the cry of a coyote. One of them fires his rifle, and the bullet kills the innocent baby, whose name ironically resembles that of the animal that they thought he was.
Why is pearl called the Elf child?
Pearl is therefore repeatedly referred to as an “elf” or “elf-child” because of the way in which she is so different from other children.
Why is The Pearl evil?
If the pearl in the final lines of the novel is described as being “grey and ulcerous,” and evil, this is only because it has been made evil by the greed of man. In a sense, the pearl therefore acts as a mirror of the men that yearn for it.
Who is Coyotito in the Pearl by John Steinbeck?
Lesson Summary. Coyotito is the infant son of Juana and Kino in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. When Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, his mother tries to suck out the poison, but wants to take him to a doctor.
Why did Kino search for the Pearl at the end?
It is to pay for his treatment that Kino searches for the pearl, and in the end, his cries awaken the trackers and cause them to shoot in his direction and kill him. The The Pearl quotes below are all either spoken by Coyotito or refer to Coyotito.
How does Kino heal Coyotito in the Pearl?
The doctor’s refusal to treat Coyotito prompts Kino to search for a pearl to be able to afford medical treatment. By the time Kino finds the pearl, Coyotito has been healed by the brown seaweed Juana used on the injury.
Who is Coyotito’s mother in the Pearl literature class?
Coyotito’s mother, Juana, tries to suck the poison out of his shoulder, but is unsure whether she can save him on her own. Coyotito is her only child and her entire world, so she insists that they take him to a doctor, even though that is rarely done in their poverty-stricken community.