The Pearl Novel: How Greed Can Deteriorate A Person

Greed is a terrible thing in the world,in the story “The Pearl” a man and his family are tested when Kino and Juana’s son, Coyotito is stung by a scorpion but they can’t pay for medical treatment so they go and search for a pearl to have enough money for a doctor to look at their son. It turned out that the pearl was a terrible curse and caused Kino to turn insane. The author’s purpose in this story is to show you how someone can love a worldly object and it can become greed.

When Kino as under the curse of the pearl many things happened consisting of people trying to steal the pearl, Kino killing man, the family's house catching on fire, and the family having to flee from their village.

Greed plays a part in this whole story. The author, John Steinbeck, is trying to show us how a worldly object that could be taken from us at any second, can be something that we revolve our lives around.

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When Kino first found the pearl, he had good intentions for it. He planned to use it wisely and never thought that he would end up in the position he was actually put in. The book says, “And, as with all retold tales that are in people\'s hearts, there are only good and bad things and black and white things and good and evil things and no in-between anywhere.” This quote explains how we can be so greedy and that there is nothing in between good or bad, it’s one or the other.

Greed is something that everybody has to experience, it’s not just something a few characters in a book have to face.

Just like Kino had to deal with greed, so did others in the story. When the doctor treating Coyotito heard about the pearl Kino had found he immediately asked if Kino would want to keep the pearl in his safe. Then he figured out that Kino had been hiding the pearl in a corner of their house, so that night he went and search for it, but luckily Kido had moved the pearl. “The doctor shrugged, and his wet eyes never left Kino’s eyes. He knew the pearl would be buried in the house, and he thought Kino might look toward the place where it was buried. “It would be a shame to have it stolen before you could sell it,” the doctor said, and he saw Kino’s eyes flick involuntarily to the floor near the side post of the brush house.” Greed is something that we usually can’t control, but it’s like a disease. You have to be careful with your possessions.

Unlike lots of people in the story “The Pearl”, Juana, Kino’s wife was the very opposite of greedy. Even though after Kino had found the pearl and had pretty much turned into a psychopath, she still accepted him, she could’ve left him with Coyotito and went her own way but she didn’t. Even when Kino was traveling through the mountains and told her to stay back with Coyotito, she refused and carried on with her husband. “No, I will continue the journey with my husband and my son.” Juana is the complete opposite of greed; she is a loving and accepting wife.

Like the others, the pearl buyers were very greedy- they wanted to buy the pearl from Kino for way less than it was worth. Yet again, the story shows greed. They didn’t want to pay full price because they wanted to save money, but gain lots at the same time. Kino refused to give them the pearl because he knew that it was worth more than their offers, greed is the main part in this story.” But there was no sign, no movement, the face did not change, but the secret hand behind the desk missed in its precision. The coin stumbled over a knuckle and slipped silently into the dealer’s lap.” Kino ended up not selling the pearl to the buyers and kept it, this was the point in the story where the pearls curse made a turn for the worst.

This story showed us how someone can love a worldly object so much. Even when it’s a small thing or a big thing, people tend to revolve their lives around it. Our greed can get the best of us, just like our pride, and can get out of control just like Kino. The only way Kino gave up the pearl was because his son, Coyotito, died. When your greed gets to the point where someone has to die for you to give something up, it’s out of control.

Personally, I can relate to this theme. There are so many things that I spend to much time on. For example, my phone, sometimes it seems like a great privilege to have, yet sometimes I catch myself on it more than I should be. This book and theme remind me of multiple other books, but they also remind me of the world we’re living in now.