What Does The Pearl Greed Symbolize

The Pearl is an allegory. This means the characters and events are symbols that stand for human life. There are several examples of symbolism in this book, including the scorpion, the pearl, the canoe, the doctor, Kino’s songs, and the ants in the novella. The first symbol major symbol in the story is the scorpion. This may not be mentioned as much as the pearl throughout the story, but I think it’s a very strong symbol, and also an omen. In the bible, a scorpion represents “corruption of innocence”. In the beginning of the story, Coyotito is bitten by a poisonous scorpion and becomes sick. This foreshadows that bad events are going to happen later on in the story, such as the death of Coyotito and all of Kino’s other losses. It also represents evil. “The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town; the black distillate was like the scorpion…” (Steinbeck 23). …show more content…
It is very powerful, and it changes Kino’s life. The pearl represents human's greed. An example of greed from the book would be when the doctor is thinking about the pearl and going to Paris, and he wants to treat their son now that Kino is going to be rich. “The doctor’s eyes rolled up in their fat hammocks and he thought of Paris.” (Steinbeck 22). It shows how being selfish and desiring things excessively can ruin happiness. It had the ability to be a blessing to Kino’s life, but turned out to be a curse. The pearl caused Kino to lose almost everything in his life. He lost his house, his son Coyotito, respect from his wife and family, and even his