The Pearl Part 1

If I had to use one word to explain the theme of the first half of The Pearl it would be greed. When Kino and Juana lucked upon the pearl of the world the news spreads through the town as well as darkness, as everyone wishes that they had been who had found it. Everyone begins to see how their lives will better from this discovery; the sales men thought about the clothes they’ve had had a hard time selling lately; The Doctor, he had denied to treat Kino’s baby earlier that day, now planned to treat him and get a trip to France; The Priest wondered if the church had done anything for Kino’s family so that it could get some renovations; and it seemed that everyone was related to the pearl somehow and everyone wanted a part of it.

                The pearl even got to Kino he began to want everything, he started by just thinking of things he could get for his family but it opened flood gates where nothing was enough. He did check himself after he realized what he was saying. Steinbeck even came right out and said it when he said that “For it is said humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more.”  I think this puts it into words perfectly the human condition, we can’t be happy with what we have when given a taste of the riches and possibilities.

                The greed gets to someone so strongly that they risk getting stabbed to steal it, and they end up getting stabbed and not getting the pearl. But then it terrified Kino’s wife Juana, and she tries to get him to destroy it because of the evil it was causing. And what she says about it being evil definitely makes sense. I think an instance of this evil is when the doctor comes to “treat” their baby, after being stung by a scorpion the baby had improved immensely, but then the doctor gives him a white substance and tells them that they think the baby will have an outburst from the scorpion sting. And can you believe it exactly an hour later the baby has a serious reaction and the doctor saves him, and then of course he gets to be paid a bill that will come from the profit of the pearl.

                The pearl buyers seem to be in on the greed and evil when it comes to The Pearl of the World. They attempt to conn Kino for it by tell him it’s too big to be worth anything, when we know that it’s worth a large sum of money that Kino’s family could seriously use.  But this backfires on them because Kino calls their bluff, even though he doubt himself, and tells them that he’ll go to the capital to sell it instead of doing business with them.

                So far I’ve found The Pearl to be suspenseful and enjoyable. I also find it easy to connect with Kino because of how he connects emotions and events to song that makes it easier for me to grasp because I am musically inclined and everything seems to make more sense in song.