Myth And Values In John Steinbeck's The Pearl

The Pearl Being wealthy is a seemingly ideal way to live. Unfortunately, wealth often ends up doing more harm than good. John Steinbeck is the American author who expressed this in the novella The Pearl. In it, Kino is a humble diver who is soon “blessed” by the discovery of “ The Pearl of the World”. He chases his dream of being wealthy, but it soon ends with Kino abandoning the pearl, to end his nightmare. Throughout the story, Kino’s views on what is important in life changes as he ultimately learns to cope with his internal conflicts. At the beginning of the story, the vital things in life to Kino are: his family and his canoe. When he was with his family the Song of the family, “...rose to an aching chord…saying this safety, this is …show more content…
For example, Kino claims the day he sold the pearl would be his “...last day of raggedness…”.(Steinbeck,44). Kino also contradicts Juana’s idea of ridding their life of the pearl by saying “ ‘We will have our chance’... ‘No one shall take our good fortune from us’...”(Steinbeck,57). You can see from this that Kino is thinking about the what the wealth from the pearl can do for his family: more than he thinks about his actual family. You can also see that Kino is determined to gain the wealth from the pearl, regardless of the consequences. Another example is of Kino’s progressing obsession with the future the pearl will create is when he declares, “ ‘My son will go to school’... ‘he will know and through him we will know’... ‘Our son must go to school’…”(Steinbeck,25,38-39). This shows that Kino “knows” that Coyotito will go to school because of the pearl. This also shows that a part of Kino desires Coyotito to go to school because Kino wants Coyotito to teach the family. Kino wants to end his ignorance of the world through Coyotito. As a result of the pearl, Kino’s life importances are now more money-based; however, he realizes what the pearl has done and decides to abolish …show more content…
An example of this would be when he sees the, “...surface of the pearl he saw the frantic eyes of the man in the pool…[in the]surface of the pearl he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot away.”(Steinbeck,89). From this you can see that Kino is reflecting on everything the pearl has done and is remorseful. From this you can also see that Kino is starting to learn how to cope with his guilt because he is finally realizing the true nature of the pearl. An exemplification of Kino’s rising frustration is when, “...the people say he carried fear with him, that he was as dangerous as a rising storm...the pearl was ugly...Kino heard the music of the pearl, distorted and insane. Kino’s hand shook a little…”(Steinbeck, 88-89). You can see that Kino appears as though he will crack at any moment due to his raging frustration. You can also see that Kino sees that what used to be so beautiful, is now hideous and this makes him feel deceived. He feels like an imbecile for trusting the destructive pearl. Ultimately, Kino fathoms that the pearl has changed how he views life and begins to cope with his internal