Literature Analysis

1.     Exposition: Strong imagery describes the shanty town of brush homes by the beach with poor Native American families. The narrator tells how their days follow a routine rarely straying from it. Kino and his wife Juana have young son Coyotito who is still a baby. After the family eats breakfast, Coyotito is put in his box that serves as a crib, and a scorpion dangles above him. Coyotito laughs and tries to reach for it and the scorpion poses to attack. Kino moves in to grab it but it falls on Coyotito and stings him. Kino kills the scorpion and Juana tries to suck out the venom from Coyotito’s shoulder. Hearing the commotion the village gathers at their hut, showing the strong community feelings in the town. While killing the scorpion the narrator describes Kino feeling the “song of the enemy” and the rage that came with it. The metaphor of “songs” is used throughout the novella to refer to emotions that come along with various reoccurring situations, referring to the Native American culture’s strong emphasis on spirituality. Kino and Juana take Coyotito to town to see a doctor. The doctor refuses to see them because they have no money, exposing the great racism between whites and Native Americans. It is hard to tell where and when the novel takes place other than early morning in the brush village by the beach.

Inciting incident: Just like every other morning, after eating breakfast the family gets into the canoe and paddles out to the oyster bed just offshore. Kino dives down to collect oysters looking for pearls and finds a large oyster under and over-hang and thinks he spotted a pearl inside. He grabs the oyster and carries it and the other oysters he already collected back to the surface. Kino is afraid to open the big oyster and opens all the other ones before opening the big one. When he finally opens it, he finds a huge pearl inside. He returns home and the pearl is literally the talk of the town. With a crowd of neighbors in their home Kino and his wife talk about what to do with the money they get when they sell it. Kino talks of material things to improve his family’s life. The villagers can’t decide whether the pearl will be his downfall of upbringing. The narrator shows how people can be ruled by ambition for material gain through greed.

Climax: Kino and Juana argue over the pearl. Juana wants to just get rid of it seeing the bad fortune it is bringing them (Coyotito gets worse after a visit from the doctor, people come and try to steal the pearl, when Kino goes to sell it he believes he isn’t getting fair prices) and in the middle of the night she goes to down to the beach to throw it in the ocean but Kino stops her and beats her. Walking back to the hut he gets attacked by people trying to steal the pearl and Kino ends up killing one. Realizing what has happened, they make plans to flee. Trying to outrun trackers, Coyotito is accidentally shot because his cry is mistaken for a coyote by the trackers while Kino is moving in to kill them. Kino kills all three trackers, before realizing that Coyotito has been killed.

Falling Action: In mourning Kino and Juana walk back to the village with Coyotito’s body.

Resolution: Kino throws the pearl into the ocean.

The author’s purpose was to show how our ambitions for material gain lead to our downfall, and the killing of Kino’s son, which was Kino’s whole purpose for trying to gain material things, destroys him.

2.     The overarching theme of the novel is that human ambition for material gain leads to our downfall. (Just like Caesar)

3.     The tone of the narrator portrays Kino as a tragic hero, displaying respect for his ambitions, but recognizing his mistakes. The narrator uses descriptive details of the environment.

“Kino awakened in near dark. The starts still shone and the day had drawn only pale wash of light in the lower sky to the east. The roosters had been crowing for some time, and early pigs were already beginning their ceaseless turning of twigs and bits of wood to see whether anything to eat had been overlooked. Outside the brush house in the tuna clump, a covey of little birds chattered and flurried with their wings.”

“Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl…. But Kino and Juana did not know these things. Because they were happy and excited they thought everyone shared their joy… Kino looked into his pearl, and Juana cast her eyelashes down and arranged her shawl to cover her face so that her excitement could not be seen. And in the incandescence of the pearl the pictures formed of the things Kino’s mind had considered in the past as impossible.” 

“It was the rifle that broke down the barriers. This was an impossibility, and if he could think of owning a rifle whole horizons were burst and he could rush on. For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And it is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.”

4.     Foreshadowing: The stinging of Coyotito and his near death experience foreshadows his death later in the novel

Allusion: alludes to the bible; Kino is trying to play god by choosing his own fate sacrifices his son Coyotito (Jesus). Coyotito dies for the sins of his father.

Metaphor: Kino and Juana are compared to animals being chased by hunters when they are trying to outrun the trackers. The hunters catch the prey at the resource they both need: water. Kino and Juana are near the water pool when the hunters catch up with them.

Imagery: Steinbeck uses strong imagery throughout the novella to describe that natural aspects of the town, the beach the mountains, showing the importance of nature.

Authorial Intrusion: The narrator often pauses the action to give insight to a theme or to describe the setting.

Indirect Characterization: Kino’s personality is slowly revealed throughout the story, with the actions he took and examples of his ambitious personality eventually leading to his downfall.

Direct Characterization: The doctor is given direct characterization describing him as a nostalgic, fat, selfish man, who is only in search of money and not in helping people.

Irony: The pearl had the potential to save Kino’s son and to improve his families living condition, but instead it lead to the death of his son, and the destruction of his property, leaving him in a worse state than he begun.

Connotation: The narrator mentions the songs of things but means songs in terms of stories and emotions that go with situations not literal rhythmic music.

Motif: throughout the story the motif that shows how ambition can lead to a human’s downfall was prominent.

Characterization

1.     Direct characterization: The doctor was described explicitly as lazy, fat selfish and wealthy.

The dealers are described to be well organized immoral people part of a larger organization trying to cheat the Indians out of their pearls. It is also noted that they want to move up in the world, and long to own an organization of their own.

Indirect Characterization: Kino’s character is revealed throughout the story as loving his family and wanting to move up in the world. However the longer he has the pearl the more his true ambition and immoral standards show.

The trackers come in at the end of the story and are their actions of tracking and trying to steal the pearl from Kino shows them as corrupt and evil.

The author uses both approaches to set up the juxtaposition between the characters that directly influence the plot line in a major way, against those who are more minor characters and are only a small part of the plot. The characters that are described via indirect characterization are ones I feel I know better because I know them through their actions and make my own interpretations of them, whereas the direct characters I only have what the narrator gives me and there isn’t a whole lot of room for my own interpretations.

2.     Yes, when the author is focusing on imagery, or making commentary, he uses more flowery language, whereas when he focuses on the characters the sentences are more concise and to the point.

3.     The protagonist is dynamic. He is both a family man and a businessman. Both trying to better his place in the world and help his family. He has large spiritual influence through his Native American ancestors that influence his moral and conduct. Kino is also a round character. In the beginning he is a moral family man, but after obtaining the pearl his morals slowly decline as he begins to focus more on his ambitions. He begins beating his wife and ignoring his obvious fate because his ambition has such a strong influence on his decision making.

4.     I felt like I had met a person, because I could connect with him. Throughout the book (from the time Kino gets the pearl to the end) I could identify with his ambition. I can identify with feeling like you have one shot and you need to do whatever you can to make it work in the best way possible, and I’ve felt myself become obsessed with that ambition and lose sight of the bigger picture much like Kino did. And by becoming so obsessed, ultimately I failed and I had to give up, and I wasted the opportunity all together just like Kino did by throwing the Pearl away. Sometimes it’s just not worth the trouble.