Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Initial Situation
A scorpion stings Kino’s son and the doctor refuses to treat him.
Okay, we’ll admit that this sounds like conflict. And in a way, yes, it is conflict—it’s just not the conflict of the novel. Instead, it sets up the circumstances in which the real conflict—Kino’s discovery of the pearl—occurs.
Because of the scorpion sting, that event is couched in urgency and desperation—the conditions set by our initial situation. The doctor being a jerk sets up some of the themes and tension of the novel, as well as establishing what is essentially the initial situation of Kino’s emotional state (namely, gate-punching anger).
Conflict
Kino finds the Maserati of all pearls.
You’d think this would be the climax, but the discovery of the pearl instead throws a giant wrench into Kino’s life. He can now dream big—which is great—but everyone in his town is also dreaming big... which is not so great. The townspeople are all ready to do anything to get their hands on the pearl, which spells C-O-N-F-L-I-C-T to us.
Complication
The pearl-buyers try to scam Kino; he is then driven out of town after unknown attackers destroy his boat and burn his house.
That went downhill fast. What should have been a joyous, celebratory time is quickly corrupted by greed and evil.
Climax
Trackers follow Kino and Kino brings them down.
As climactic as watching Kino triumph over the trackers is, it’s a bittersweet moment. He doesn’t have a house or a canoe, and he’s on the run. As much as we may cheer for his attack moves, and as much as we identify this as the climax of the novel, it’s definitely tinged with some darker undertones.
Suspense
Kino hears a "cry of death" from the cave.
Steinbeck doesn’t explain what this "cry of death" means, which means that he leaves us in suspense until the…
Denouement
Kino and Juana return to La Paz. Coyotito is dead.
Now that we know that the "cry of death" from the cave was Juana mourning for the death of Coyotito, the suspense is over.
Conclusion
Kino chucks the pearl into the ocean.
Kino and Juana come to a tacit agreement (well, Kino is finally convinced) that the pearl is evil. He throws it out of their lives and we assume they go back to being poor... minus a canoe, house, and their son.