John Steinbeck Responses To Stress

In each John Steinbeck novel, the protagonists experience a sense of anxiety or intolerable measures of stress that causes them to act in unexpected ways. Stress is shown especially in The Pearl, “Flight”, and The Moon is Down through many of the characters actions and decisions. Through The Pearl, The Moon is Down, and “Flight,” John Steinbeck demonstrates various positive and negative responses to stress. In The Pearl, the main character ,Kino, has many negative responses to stress throughout the plot. Kino faces many stressful situations in which he responds to stress in a negative and foolish ways. When Kino was being chased and trying to be stripped of the pearl, stress caused him to, “spring like an angry cat, leap striking and spitting for the dark thing.” The stress of keeping possession of the pearl caused Kino to turn to hostile behaviors and act inhuman and thought these actions, Kino became just as hateful as the people attacking him. Also, when Juana, Kino’s wife, is trying to relieve Kino from the stress of …show more content…
In The Pearl, Kino and Juana have many positive reactions to stress. When Kino found the pearl of the world when he “lifted the flesh, and there it lay, the great pearl, perfect as the moon” Kino used his stress in a positive way. Kino was stressed about his baby son and he used this stress as positive motivation to find the pearl of the world. Also, Kino exhibited positive stress when he, “drew back his arm and flung the pearl with all his might.” and “Kino and Juana watched it go, winking and glimmering under the setting sun.” Kino had a moment of perfection because of stress and his positive reaction, throwing the pearl back to the sea, and this action relieved him of his stress. Kino and Juana positively reacted to stress through their constructive use and embracement of