Response
John Steinbeck's
The Pearl
was written to everyone. He used some literary elements to tell us some important things in life.
John Steinbeck was successful in getting the message across. In The Pearl, when Kino brings Coyotito to see the doctor, the doctor refuses to help Coyotito because Kino can't pay him his fee. Kino is so angry but he can't do anything with that. This shows the rich and the powerful people usually dominate the poor and uneducated. When Kino gets the "pearl of the world", the doctor comes to take some medicine for Coyotito and wants to keep the pearl for Kino. This reveals people are usually not satisfied with what they have. They always want something more. Kino gets beater every night, since everyone wants to rob the great pearl from him. This reveals the greed of the human. Human spirit can be attacked by weakness within the human personality and by the evils in the society. Finally, Kino realizes that the pearl is evil, then gives Juana the pearl to throw it away. Juana returns it to Kino, let him decide what to do with the pearl. Kino throws the pearl to the Gulf, to as far as he can. Both of them learn a lot from their experiences. This also tells us wisdom and knowledge can be gained from a tragic experience, and goodness usually triumphs over evil.
Steinbeck also used a lot of literary elements in his work, such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony. One example of foreshadowing is "In his mind a new song had come, the Song of Evil, the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous melody, and underneath the Song of the Family cried plaintively." Here, the author tells the evil is coming. When Kino bites by the assailants, Juana pleads, " This pearl is like a sin!" "It will destroy us all, even our son." This is also a foreshadowing. This hinds Coyotito's death at the end.
In this novel, Kino and Juana symbolize all man kind. We can easily see the similarityes between they and ourselves. They love their son, want to provide better life for him. That's all of us will do. The pearl represents temptation, sin, and evil, which brings trageties. The resolution is Coyotito died, Juana and Kino return to the village, and throw the pearl to the Gulf. Kino loses his son and all of his dreams and hopes. That's so sad. Coyotito is innocent, but his death is the catalyst that leads the end. His death totally impacts the resolution. It makes Kino realizes the pearl is evil.
The Pearl
is a great book. As most of Steinbeck's works, it also takes place in a small village close to the sea. The setting of the novel affects the whole story. Because it's a small village, everyone knows Kino has a pearl. They all can attack him to make the pearl become their own. That causes Coyotito's death, makes the story sad. If I have time, I will read more of Steinbeck's novels because I like the books relate to sea.
After I read this novel, I had learned a lot about the life. I also see the dark side of the human, and the evil side of this society. Makes me look at the society differently.