The PearlThe pearl is a BIG deal. At first it’s the apex of Kino’s dreams and desires, and the next minute it’s a harbinger of bad, wicked things. Juana calls it "evil," "a sin" t...
A small village in La Paz on the coast of the lower half of the Baja Peninsula. Set during the colonial era in Mexico, The Pearl takes place in a small rural town called La Paz on the Baja Peninsul...
Third Person (Omniscient)With this omniscient point of view, we get the benefit of hearing multiple perspectives and opinions. The text spends a lot of time observing, reporting from a distance on...
Folklore, Legend, and Mythology; Parable; Literary FictionSteinbeck based The Pearl in part on a legend he heard during a six-week expedition in the Sea of Cortez. Elements of the story, then, have...
Doomed, Removed, TranquilWe definitely get a sense of fatalism reading The Pearl. The narration declares with removed, pensive observation that all are greedy, that the pearl brings evil, that Kino...
Filmic, Rhythmic, Legend-likeSteinbeck originally conceived of The Pearl as a film, and you can definitely tell by reading it. You’ve got everything from camera pans to a thematic musical sco...
Right, so this one isn’t too complicated: a parable about a pearl is called…The Pearl. But there’s also some biblical stuff going on – maybe. It might be that Steinbeck is a...
"In the town they tell the story of the great pearl – how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And beca...
Initial SituationA scorpion stings Kino’s son and the doctor refuses to treat him.OK, we’ll admit that this sounds like conflict. And in a way, yes, it is conflict – it’s ju...
Anticipation StageKino looks for a pearl.Unable to pay for the doctor to examine his scorpion-stung baby, Kino takes to the water in the hopes of finding a great pearl. "But the pearls were acciden...
Act IKino finds a valuable pearl.Act IIThe valuable pearl destroys Kino's life.Act IIIKino throws away the valuable pearl.
Steinbeck was a major in marine biology at Stanford University – until he dropped out.When The Pearl was made into a movie in 1947, it was the first Mexican-made movie to be commercially dist...
GWell, Juana and Kino have a baby, so we know they must have had sex at some point. That’s pretty much it though.
Literature, Philosophy, and MythologyJohn Steinbeck: The Log from the Sea of Cortez (the entire novella)Bible: The Gospel of Matthew – The parable of "the pearl of great price" (the novella&#...
