The Pearl

The Pearl

Andrew Westenberger
Have you ever been in a situation where you feel like you’re on rock bottom and you can’t get out? “The Pearl”, by John Steinbeck, is a book over loaded with adventure, mystery, Death, and sorrow.

The pearl took place in a slave village, filled with huts. The main characters’ baby was in the family’s hut, resting peacefully in the bed hanging from the ceiling. A scorpion fell on the baby and stung her. The town doctor was very greedy and Kino, the main character, couldn’t afford to pay for the treatment. One day, Kino was diving for pearls and found the biggest one anybody has ever found. The town jewelers wouldn’t give Kino a reasonable offer so Kino took a journey into the city, which became a disaster.

The climax of the story is when Kino finds the gargantuan pearl. Once he got into the boat, he felt like all of the weight was off of his shoulders, nothing bad could happen. He though that his newborn son could be treated, he could get new clothes, builds a new house, anything.

Afterwards, when Kino, his wife, and his child get to the city, bad things start happening. There’s the town doctor’s son chasing them down to kill them, the city is trying to rip off Kino on the pearl, and Kino’s son gets killed. Kino had enough of it. His wife thought that the pearl was cursed, and she was right. Kino got so mad because so many bad things were happing, he gave up the opportunity and threw the pearl back to where it came from, the ocean. After that, almost everything returned back to normal and Kino was relived from the bad spirits.

The situation Kino was put through wasn’t an everyday thing. This book is a perfect example of how if you become greedy, well, it’s not always a good thing. This book has taught me a lot and that is why this book will remain as one of my favorites.