Novel Cube Cards

Front 1

"In the town they tell the story of the great pearl—how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man’s mind. 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.
“If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it. In any case, they say in the town that...

Back 1

This paragraph is not actually part of the story. It is actually located at the center of the page before the first chapter. This paragraph serves to create an opening for the book. it shows the book as a story and a legend, and the author will be telling us this story.

Front 2

The ants were busy on the ground, big black ones with shiny bodies and the little dusty quick ants. Kino watched with the detachment of God while a dusty ant frantically tried to escape the sand trap an ant lion had dug for him.

Back 2

This quotation is from earlier in the book. It does not really serve any purpose in the story itself, but the symbolism in this line is the main point of it. He is being compared to a god in this sentence, saying that he is watching over without caring about whats happening. the one ant that is trapped in a sand trap can be a foreshadowing of his own life, when he gets trapped physically by the trackers when they camp outside his cave, and also gets trapped figuratively when he is trapped by his ambitious outlook on the pearl.

Front 3

He watched the ants moving, a little column of them near to his foot, and he put his foot in their path. Then the column climbed over his instep and continued on its way, and Kino left his foot there and watched them move over it.

Back 3

This is Kino's second encounter with ants, and occurs later towards the climax of the novel, when the family is running away from the village. It is similar to last time in the fact that it has no point to the story whatsoever but is heavy with meaning. When he last met ants, he was being compared to a god, but this time, he seems like a lesser being. When he puts his foot in the path of the ants, he is trying to create a barrier for them, so that he would have an effect on the ants, but they simply climb over his foot. This shows his inability to control the ants and, symbolically, his life.

Front 4

But the pearls were accidents, and the finding of one was luck, a little pat on the back by God or the gods or both.

Back 4

This is a small quote from the beginning of the novel, when Kino is about to go diving for pearls. It shows how finding things such as pearls is solely based on divine luck. I feel as if this also alludes to the religion of the people. The book does not talk too much about religion, but it does say that when his wife prays against evils, she says Hail Mary's and also mutters ancient magic. This shows the mixing of religions and beliefs that is alluded to in this sentence.

Front 5

In the pearl he saw Coyotito sitting at a little desk in a school, just as Kino had once seen it through an open door. And Coyotito was dressed in a jacket, and he had on a white collar and a broad silken tie. Moreover, Coyotito was writing on a big piece of paper. Kino looked at his neighbors fiercely. “My son will go to school,” he said, and the neighbors were hushed. . . .
Kino’s face shone with prophecy. “My son will read and open the books, and my son will write and will know writing. And my son will make numbers, and these things will make us free because he will know—he will know and through him we will know. . . . This is what the pearl will do.”

Back 5

This is from a part of the book after Kino has found the pearl, and is now contemplating its uses. This is the moment he decides that he will channel the strength of the into helping Coyotito. This creates Kino's ultimate goal. Kino becomes so ambitious into this goal that it ends up killing Coyotito, his reason for his every action.

Front 6

And the evils of the night were about them. The coyotes cried and laughed in the brush, and the owls screeched and hissed over their heads. And once some large animal lumbered away, crackling the undergrowth as it went.

Back 6

This quote is from later on in the novel, when Kino is away from his village, trying to escape the trackers. I found this quote a little peculiar, because at the beginning of the novel, it showed nature as something of beauty, using beautiful words to describe it. this shows the point to which Kino has reached due to his ambition. He feels separated from nature, while earlier, he was connected to it.

Front 7

It was a morning like other mornings and yet perfect among mornings.

Back 7

This quote is very early in the story. It describes the morning of the first day of the story. This quote could possibly allude to the pearl, because that pearl was a pearl just like any other pearls, but it was a perfect pearl. Also, Although this morning is perfect, it is the day that Coyotito got stung by the scorpion. this is also symbolic of the pearl, because it seemed perfect, but it was actually the downfall of the family.

Front 8

For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more.

Back 8

This is what the narrator says after Kino says he wants a rifle. This is symbolic of Kino's ambition. when he went to go cash in the Pearl, no matter what price he was given for it, he wanted more and more, so much that he angrily left without cashing it in

Front 9

Have I nothing better to do than cure insect bites for little Indians? I am a doctor, not a veterinary.

Back 9

This is what the doctor says to his servant when he is informed of Kino's son's sting. This shows the doctor's blatant discrimination and racism. He compares the "little Indians" to animals, saying he is a not a vet. This racism is what causes Kino to want to put so much effort into his son's education. He wants Coyotito to break out of this cycle and be free from this dependency.

Front 10

Throw it away, Kino. Let us break it between stones. Let us bury it and forget the place. Let us throw it back into the sea. It has brought evil. Kino, my husband, it will destroy us.

Back 10

This is what Kino's wife, Juana, says to him while she is nursing the wound that was dealt to him by the first attacker in the night. This quote is important because it shows that even Juana has realized that the pearl is bringing harm to them, but Kino's ambition is causing him to be blinded to the fact.

Front 11

He was terrified of that monster of strangeness they called the capital. It lay over the water and through the mountains, over a thousand miles, and every strange terrible mile was frightening. But Kino had lost his old world and he must clamber on to a new one.

Back 11

This shows how Kino was feeling after talking to the dealers and refusing their offers. This explains the length of his ambitions. He has started hating everything that takes him off the path to his ultimate goal, and in order to achieve this, he must completely rearrange his mindset and look at things from a new perspective.

Front 12

He was an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he lived only to preserve himself and his family.

Back 12

This was Kino's mindset when he found out that his boat had been broken. It shows that he had become like an animal. he was now doing anything and everything out of instinct, all in order to achieve his ultimate goal.

Front 13

The music of the pearl was triumphant in Kino's head, and the quiet melody of the family underlay it, and they wove themselves into the soft padding of sandaled feet in the dusk.

Back 13

This line is from when Kino was fleeing the village with his family. This one is significant because it says that the pearl had risen above even his family in importance and priority. It also directly puts his reason for fleeing the village directly on the pearl.

Front 14

And the pearl was ugly; it was gray like a malignant growth. And Kino heard the music of the pearl, distorted and insane.

Back 14

This quote is from right before Kino throws the pearl back into the sea at the end of the novel. This quote is important because it shows that Kino has come to realize the disgusting nature of the pearl, and How it has done nothing but bad for him and his family.

Front 15

It came to the priest walking in his garden, and it put a thoughtful look in his eyes and a memory of certain repairs necessary to the church. He wondered what the pearl would be worth.

Back 15

This quote is from when the news of the newly discovered pearl was spreading. When it came to the priest, he started thinking about all the repairs needed by the church. This shows the extent of greed, to the point that when someone hears of great wealth, they start thinking of all the things they can do with that wealth.

Front 16

Kino had a rifle across his arm and Juana carried her shawl like a sack over her shoulder.

Back 16

This quote talkes about what the two were holding as they reentered the village at the end of the novel. This shows that Kino had finally fulfilled one of his dreams, getting a rifle, but in the process had to pay a great price, the life of his beloved son.

Front 17

And then Kino stood uncertainly. Something was wrong, some signal was trying to get through to his brain. Tree frogs and cicadas were silent now.

Back 17

This line appears right after the brief struggle near the end of the novel in which Kino kills the three trackers. This is when Kino realizes that a rifle shot had killed his son. The way nature is responding to the death - by pretty much shutting up - makes it seem like nature has realized the sadness of what has occurred and is observing its sympathy.

Front 18

Some ancient thing stirred in Kino. Through his fear of dark and the devils that haunt the night, there came a rush of exhilaration; some animal thing was moving in him so that he was cautious and wary and dangerous; some ancient thing out of the past of his people was alive in him. The wind was at his back and the stars guided him.

Back 18

This quote is from when he is taking his family and running away with them. This shows that his harsh ambition has awakened his animal instincts and he is no longer thinking for himself but is being controlled by a primitive power.

Front 19

In his mind a new song had come, the Song of Evil, the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous melody, and underneath, the Song of the Family cried plaintively.

Back 19

This quote is from the beginning of the novel, when Kino and Juana noticed the scorpion climbing towards Coyotito. This quote shows how he regards anything that goes against the family as evil. This explains his harsh decisions as the novel progresses, because he went to every limit to protect his family from harm.

Front 20

She gathered some brown seaweed and made a flat damp poultice of it, and this she applied to the baby's swollen shoulder, which was as good a remedy as any and probably better than the doctor could have done. But the remedy lacked his authority because it was simple and didn't cost anything.

Back 20

This quote is from when they are about to go out on their boat and dive for pearls. It shows how they valued things based on their monetary worth, while that is not the case. In the end, the treatment of lesser worth helped more than the expensive one. this can be symbolic for the pearl, because even though it was worth a lot, it did more harm than good.