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.
