The Pearl by John Steinbeck

        The Pearl by John Steinbeck is an intense, harsh story that takes place in the early 1900s. It is about a Mexican-Indian couple, Kino and Juana, who struggle and face challenges where they must do things that take away from their poor, innocent-like lifestyle for the sake of the life of their infant son, Coyotito, who was stung by a scorpion in the beginning of the book.

The book was a fast read, and was full of heavy ideals that I enjoyed even though I read it fast. I was intrigued as I read along the story of Kino, and how much he had changed when finding a giant pearl worth a lot of money. Innocence and contentedness seem to quickly drift away from his spirit and replaced with greed and violence. The story had high-tension parts, but also had some dry, dull parts. All in all the book was enjoyable, but not worth a second read for me.

Chapter 1

In chapter 1, the characters and their lifestyle was introduced. Kino and Juana were poor Mexican-Indians who lived a simple lifestyle near the coast, living in a hut made of bundled straw fastened together. They had a makeshift cradle hanging from the roof, where their infant son, Coyotito lay.

Quickly the mood heightened when a scorpion was on the roof of their hut, climbing down the rope to Coyotito. Kino quickly attempted to grasp the scorpion as his wife Juana recites a prayer for her son. However Coyotito was laughing and wanted to grab the scorpion. He grabbed the rope and shook it and the scorpion fell on his shoulder and immediately stung him. In anger Kino grabbed the scorpion and crushes and beats it, even though his son was already stung.

Juana tries to suck out the poison from her son and tells Kino to get the doctor. But Kino doubts the doctor will come to the poor neighborhood, since he has never gone there since he is of higher class. Juana decides to bring Coyotito to the doctor instead. Here I felt really bad for Kino and Juana, but not surprised. Their poor and of course, would not be able to pay the doctor for their services which makes sense why he doesn’t go to the neighborhood. The neighbors are all surprised to see them go to the doctor and follow as Kino and Juana go to the center of the town.

It’s clear that Kino feels a level of animosity toward the doctor as they arrive to his house, since he is rich and not the same people. But one of his own people answer the gate to Kino, and when he explains the injury in their language, he answers him in Spanish, which is the rich people’s language, and tells him to wait as he gives him the minute pearls. I felt like that was extremely disrespectful; the man was his own people and since he works for the doctor, couldn’t even respect him enough to speak their language. I felt he acted as a trader, and that wasn’t right.

When he tells the doctor about Kino’s situation, the doctor replies rudely demanding if Kino has money to pay for the treatment. When given the eight small pearls, he dismisses the man and he goes back to tell Kino that he is preoccupied with a serious case. How messed up is that? I felt really bad for Kino now. The group of people broke up and since Kino was upset, he punches the barrier, leaving his knuckles bloodied.