Review of The Pearl

 Review of The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Read The Pearl online here

When I was a sophomore in high school, we read The Pearl and then chose a scene to re-enact on video. I believe we chose the scene where the doctor comes to the house. Needless to say, I am not good at acting. It was a memorable experience and one that has endeared me to the story. This time around, reading the story, I realized that I had only remembered the book's first half and did not remember the ending. So, it was a pleasant surprise for me as I was reading the story.

The story is about a poor fisherman, Kino, who finds a massive pearl in the sea. The pearl is worth a lot of money, and when Kino's baby son gets sick, he hopes the pearl could pay for an expensive doctor. The pearl itself becomes a curse on Kino's family, running him out of town being chased by bandits. He was trying to defend his family and keep the pearl resulting in the loss of his baby. Returning to his village, Kino and his wife toss the pearl back into the sea.

The tale of The Pearl is a parable about wealth and culture. “The novella is concerned with Kino’s moral obligation and not his civic obligation” when it comes to his responsibility for the pearl (Sparknotes.com). Kino's wife wants him to toss the pearl back into the water from the beginning, but Kino keeps hoping that it will bring fortune to his family. The community is also hoping to get some money from Kino's pearl. People even try to steal it from him in the middle of the night, causing a bit of chaos resulting in Kino and his family fleeing town.

Like other Steinbeck's works, The Pearl deals with the theme of the “American dream” even though the story takes place in Mexico. The idea of the “American dream” is still found in this story. Kino wants to use the pearl to help build his social status and pay for his son to go to school. “Kino’s gradual corruption and the story’s tragic conclusion hint at a fundamental flaw in the American dream” (Sparknotes.com). The story suggests that sacrificing virtue will result is ok if it results in material gain.

Eventually, the pressure of owning the pearl gets to Kino, and he becomes paranoid. For a good reason, because the community turns on Kino. Greed plays a role in the story, dividing the community and Kino and his wife. Kino's wife is constantly telling him to get rid of the pearl. By having Kino get rid of the pearl, “the novel suggest that the destructive forces of the world are too powerful to be overcome” (Sparknotes.com). Relinquishing the pearl represents Kino succumbing to the world instead of overcoming the difficulties and succeeding with wealth and materials goods.

A short read, The Pearl is a simple story about the corruption of wealth and how it can tear apart a tiny village and ruin a family. It's a classic staple of Steinbeck's work, even though it doesn't occur in California. Chasing the “American dream” is a theme that usually ends badly for characters in a Steinbeck novel. The moral is usually that living the dream life requires hard work and for Kino a pearl can't solve his problems. It's a moral quandary that I find fascinating every time I read this story.

Buy "The Pearl" Here

Works Cited

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/pearl/central-idea-essay/parable-and-the-form-of-the-pearl/