John Steinbeck is the author of this text. His life dates from 1902 to 1968. He hails from Salinas, in a moderately well up family. His writing career dates from 1925. His first published work includes a series of humor filled stories about Monterey paisanos, widely known as ‘Tortilla Flat’. A close look at his work leaves everyone convinced that he is a social writer, if not a social worker. He is a husband to Carol Henning. (Benson, 1977, p.254)
‘The Pearl’ is set along the Californian Gulf, Baja, in 1930s. The socio-economic setting of this text is business. The business is characterized of the pearl collection activity of the Indian natives along the Gulf. (Benson, 1977, p. 300) The story takes place in an imaginary shore known as La Paz.
His characters are real people who breathe the same breath of reality as the author. The characters in this text enhance the plot and expose the ideas of the author. The protagonist is called Kino. Kino is a young family man who struggles through the life’s misgiving situations and wishes to make the best out of it. He is a pearl diver. He takes the responsibility of sustaining the family whole heartedly. He is a hard working man. (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 63) He portrays a sense of responsibility. He collects pearls diligently aiming at improving the life of son to be above his own. Finding the ‘pearl of the world’ gives him hope of seeing his son through his education. He sees a dramatic change for his family welfare in the pearl. Unfortunately, the pearl steals his peace. He is forced to leave his home in quest to secure the pearl from his neighbors who are eager to take it from him. This pearl of the world turns him to a murder and takes the life of his son for a sacrifice. He ends up throwing the pearl into the sea again.
Juana: she is the wife to Kino. She is humble, wise, patience, and emotionally strong. She is caring and understanding. She cares for the family with her whole motherhood. She is obedient. She agrees with the husband to move from their home in quest for the safety for the pearl. (Wendy, 2006, p. 14) She is a strong woman because she can make the most crucial decisions. For instance, she advices the husband to throw the pearly once she realizes that it is a well of trouble. Through her, we are able to realize that the pearl is more of a curse than a blessing. Juana gives us the solution to the tragic pearl.
Coyotito: he is the beloved son to Kino and Juana. Through him, the author highlights on the poverty status of the family. He requires medical attention after a scorpion bits him, but the traditional doctor refuse to attend him until payment be made. The character traits of the doctor come to light through Coyotito. The doctor comes to treat him after getting the report about Kino’s collection of the pearl. (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 106) However, this character lives a little while and dies of an accidental bullet as his father tries to protect the family, especially the boy’s future.
Juan Tomas: he is Kino’s older brother. He is a wise man, caring and concerned with the welfare of his brother Kino. He instructs Kino to sell the pearl and accompanies him to sell the pear. He is foresighted. He warns his brother that failure to sell the pearl is a beckon of trouble to the family and its entire future. Even though his brother neglects his wisdom, he still offers them a shoulder to lie on when they need it. He provides protection and personal needed for Kino’s family on their journey. (Wendy, 2006, p. 8)
Apolonia: she is Juan Tomas’ wife. She is submissive. She accompanies her husband as he escorts Kino to the market to sell the pearl. She is emotional. She mourns for Kinos when their hut burns and they seem to be nowhere. She has a sincere love for the in-laws.
Doctor: he is selfish. He is a capitalist. He is wealthier than the dwellers of La Paz. He drains the people’s efforts when they call him to treat them. The little that the family gathers, he demands the same if he is called to treat them. He is a pretender. He fakes not knowing that Kino possesses the world pearl. The doctor is supposedly a thief. We suspect him to be the intruder who comes to Kino’s hut in the night after the treatment of the son to dig the pearl from the hut. (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 120)
Attacker: they are three men. These men are the robbers who follow Kinos on their escape to secure the pearl. They are the reason for Coyotito’s death. When Kino attacks them, he kills all, with the gods of the pearl taking Coyotito for a sacrifice.
The priest: he icons religious authority in the La Paz society. He is the portrait of the greed in the church today. He desires that the pearl that Kino collects benefits the church, not individuals. He is cunning. He tries to convince Kino to subject his wealth to God, telling him that God is the creator of the pearl and He deserves a share of it from Kino. (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 116)
The buyers: the pearl buyers are witty. They are controlled by one man to trick the Indian natives. This ‘man’ is a metaphoric figure. He is actually not a man, but an idea, a desire or a habit in all the business tycoons, though represented in a number of them. They are robbers. They rob wittingly, if the target escapes, they rob physically. Possibly these are the attacker at Kino’s hut in the night following the unsuccessful sale of the pearl. This is all about the characterization in the pearl. (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 120) Let us have a look at the themes in the text.
The first theme and major theme in this text is ‘quest for a bright future’. This theme develops at the altar of Kino’s household. Kino longs for his son’s bright future. He works tirelessly and fights tooth and nail to maintain the dream of a bright future for his son. He opts to vacate his home and sojourn in foreign land in order to protect the dream and the son. This is actually the life of Steinbeck himself. He works hard to get the University. Once there, he realizes that he can write. (McCarthy, 1980, p. 40) He leaves the university to develop his writing career. Unfortunately, he fails and the society and the forces in it rob him the dream he lives for; being a writer. However, unlike the text’s characters who throw the pearl, he does not give up writing.
The second major theme is the theme on technology criticism. He symbolically represents the technological advancement in the text. He critically evaluates the technological developments and the evils it contains. The ‘World Pearl’ is an imagery representing the world’s science. The dream for a better future is anticipation for a good and peaceful environment in the face of a technologically advancing world. The scientists dreams for a sophisticated world in which all will be satisfied. On the contrary, this will increase enmity and threats to the very human life that the scientists seeks to improve.
The text explores poverty as a theme. The family of the protagonist cannot afford to pay for medication services for his son. At that moment, the family is gets instant wealth. This wealth comes so instantly that it is closely followed with misfortunes. In this case, the author indents to warn the society of the plan to transform the life of the minorities in the society instantly. The instant transformation has much more troubles with it than peace. (Lisca, 1958, p. 347) These are the most crucial themes in this text. The following is an evaluation of the literary features in the texts.
The literary styles in this text include biblical allusion. The part where the narrator tells of Kino’s hast to the land of rocks, is a biblical allusion to one King of Israel called King David. Before he is crowned by men to be the king, he is anointed by a God to serve as a king instead of Saul. Saul takes him to his palace to be playing harp for him. On the process he suspects that David is a potential king and can take away his son’s kingdom inheritance. He seeks to kill him but David hides and chooses to sojourn. (John, 2007, p. 89) On his epic, Saul follows him. David attacks in the night, but unlike in the text, he spares his life. David does not kill Saul, like it happens in the text, where Kino kills his adversaries.
The author uses description as a style. The author describes the living condition of his characters in a vivid way making the picture real to the mind of the audiences. When the protagonist fights with the attackers, we feel the pain and share in the punches and shoots that ensue. When the hut burns, we share in the sorrow of suspecting the consumption of the Kinos in the blaze. Apolonia’s mourning creates the reality of emotional horror, which we, audience share. The author describes the selling of the pearl to the buyers. (Fontenrose, 1963, p. 150) Steinbeck makes clear the pretended competition just as it is in real life situation with conmen convincing present sellers to let go their important wealth for meager price.
The text represents symbolism. The pearl is symbol of knowledge. This pearl is in the possession of poor people. It turns out to be destructive. The symbol is that of knowledge without control. It destroys the possessor and the entire society. It is like a bomb that explodes that lacks is designed by a simple minded person without consideration of its effect when it explored. This person possesses knowledge but lacks a proper way to utilize it.
The text explores metaphor. The text uses metaphor is the items that contribute to the plot of the text. The pearl is a metaphoric figure. The ‘World Pearl’ is a metaphoric figure representing the world’s greatest evolution, communication technology. The setting is a metaphoric one. The setting is in the see shore. The sea shore is washed often whenever the sea tides arise. The sea shore is a representation of the academic knowledge that washes the minds of the people generation after another, every time leaving new ideas , admirable than the former ones. The throwing of the pearl is a foreshadowing of the ultimate place of technological advances. (Clark,, 2007, p. 400) The scientists will soon surrender searching for knowledge when it will put the whole human race into trouble. It will endanger their lives.
In conclusion, Steinbeck succeeds in presenting the modern society and the chaos in it. He explores the risks of maintaining technology advances and every time dreaming for more sophisticated life. He warns the world of the impending dangers of making new discoveries every time.
Work Cited:
Benson, Jackson, “John Steinbeck: Novelist as Scientist”: in Novel: AForum on Fiction, Spring. (1977). London. Heinemann. *(248-264)*
Clark, Bruccoli, A “john Steinbeck”, in Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume332: Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature, Part 4: Quasimodo-Yeats. (2007) *(394-410)*
Fontenrose, Joseph. John Steinbeck: An introduction and interpretation’ Barnes & Noble, Inc., (1963). *(150)*
John, (Ernest) Steinbeck, Contemporary Literary Criticism-Select. (A brief review of the author’s life, works, and critical reception) London. Heinemann. (2007).
Lisca, Peter, The Wide World of John Steinbeck. U.S.A. Rutgers University Press (1958) *(326)*
McCarthy, Paul. John Steinbeck, Unger. London. Heinemann (1980).
Steinbeck, John. Wagner-Martin, Linda, and Orozco, Jose. The Pearl. (1994). London. Penguin.
Wendy, Perkins. Critical Essays on “The Pearl”: Short Stories for Students. Vol. 22, Thomson Gale, (2006).
