The Pearl Greed

Traitors, thieves, mercenaries, and cruel authorities all have one similar trait; they believed in the principle that wealth, in every given form, directly corresponds with contentment. However, in The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, characters such as the pearl dealers, the hired trackers, and the doctor display dismaying extents of avarice and covetousness for Kino’s pearl, leading to four murders, five deaths, and a monumental shift in culture, due to the belligerent actions of Kino, who strived to break the social hierarchy, which was built with white people on top. Wealth categorically fails to equate with a fulfilling life because it harms others, results in detrimental changes to one’s behavior, and is directly contradicting to Biblical doctrine. For the entirety of the existence of man, greed has remained one of the strongest urges, motivating wars, murders, and …show more content…
Kino, part of the modest living, indigent race, chances upon a grand pearl, whose provision of wealth surpasses any knowledge of the local, which is preyed upon by those who seek a profit from the pearl. The mere size and beauty of the pearl makes everyone associate themselves with Kino, and more importantly, his possession, curiously making him an adversary to their cause, and thus provokes hate, leading to attempts of theft, and even attempts on Kino’s well-being. On the former attempt, Kino viciously attacks the will-be theif, and on the latter-mentioned attempt, Kino effectively becomes a murderer; such harm was unavoidable due to this rapacity. Kino undergoes a radical change, trusting none but Juan Tomas, and becoming attached to his pearl in an unwilling and involuntary relationship. These inimical changes in Kino results in Coyotito’s death, the death of three trackers, who were presumably compelled by compensation, and the permanent change in Kino’s perceived countenance, and his outlook on the