The Pearl

Drew Suhr

Mrs. Raphael

English 3B-2

1/18/04

The Pearl

After reading The Pearl by John Steinbeck, one can see that it is a parable with a very noticeable lesson contained within. The story is a simple one about how trying to take the fast route to your dreams will most often lead to disaster. The lesson contained within this story is that greed and wealth for material objects can cause one to lose the most important things or people in their life.

When the pearl enters the life of the Kino's family, it brings death and pain with it instead of life. The pearl is thought to be a way in which Kino can have an easier life and his son can have a strong future. He thinks that it should give him a rifle, a wedding, and an education for his son, but the evil of men thwarts his dreams. He cannot get as much from the pearl buyers as he had hoped, so he becomes arrogant and paranoid about the pearl, and decides to try and sell it somewhere else. Many things start to happen due to the pearl: the doctor causes his son to get sick so that Kino will pay him to cure his son, someone repeatedly tries to steal the pearl, and all of this leads to only pain and suffering to Kino and his attackers. Towards the end, Kino kills a man trying to steal his pearl, and so must leave the town as an outcast, until in the end a rifle shot from a tracker kills his son, the most important thing in his life. The pearl is representative of greed and how it can cause more losses than gains.

In the end, one sees that great fortune doesn't come easily or instantly, but if it does, then there is probably a higher price for it than reward. Working for a hard, honest living can bring enough happiness to life, but trickery or luck can make you lose your happiness.