The Pearl Greed

In many cases, with sudden wealth comes great greed, especially with those who are poor and the sudden change of receiving large amounts of money can change their life. Greed is something that can take over a human being. This is what happens to a character in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. Kino is a brush house citizen, somebody of a lower class, in La Paz, Baja California. Kino’s life was perfectly fine, until his son Coyotito was stung by a scorpion. The same day, he went out pearl diving, trying to find a pearl of some value so that he could pay the doctor to help heal Coyotito. He then found the Pearl of the World, a pearl so beautiful and rare, that everyone adored it. Even so, everybody wanted it, and Kino, the owner, thought about what …show more content…
John Steinbeck use foreshadowing through nature and through the thoughts of Kino to help the reader interact with the events of the book. It is used especially to show the progress of the greed in Kino and throughout the whole town. “Kino watched with the detachment of God while a dusty ant frantically tried to escape the sand trap an ant lion had dug for him” (Steinbeck 5). In the beginning of the book, even though nothing bad has happened to Kino yet, the reader sees how the ants are telling what will happen throughout the story. The story of the ants gives a look into what may happen to Kino and his family later on. This can be interpreted as the ants symbolizing Kino being trapped in the greed of money and the pearl, and trying to escape. The ants tell this to the reader, instead of the author saying what will happen. While Kino may not know he is trying to escape the greed and evil, when he decides to flee from the village, he is like that ant struggling to get out of the sand trap the other ant dug for him. This use of foreshadowing could also be interpreted as if the pearl buyers were the ant lion and Kino is the dusty ant. The pearl buyers are what ensure that Kino would not get out of the pearl’s trap, and if he wanted to, he would be cheated out of it. Even so, Kino’s greed consumed him, and he wasn’t not going to let the pearl go for a price he knew was lower than the actual …show more content…
One major use of symbolism is how the pearl, and its color, changed throughout the story, from when Kino found it to when Kino was on the way home, having killed four people, and his son being shot and killed as well. “He looked into its surface and it was gray and ulcerous… And the pearl was ugly; it was gray, like a malignant growth” (Steinbeck 86). When Kino found the pearl, it was beautiful and magnificent, and he called it the Pearl of the World, though the evil it brought had changed it. At the end of the story, the pearl was gray, ugly, and it was seen as a growth. It had brought terrible times to Kino and the village, it was awful, and so was Kino. The pearl changing symbolizes the struggle and defeat Kino went through. He was first grateful, and was provided with all he needed, but once he could have more, the greed consumed him, and he was no longer that grateful man described at the beginning of the story. When he finally let go of the pearl, his struggles may not have ended, but his greed was released. When he realized what he did to his son, all his greed went away. He had no attachment to the pearl and actually completely hated it. Kino finally realized what the ugly, horrible pearl had done to his family, and he wasn’t going to let it