the Pearl

What would you do if your baby was dying? You wouldn’t just sit there and let it happen. Wouldn’t you fight for your baby to live? In the story, “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck, that’s what the two main characters do (Kino and Juana). Through the book, many tragic things happen. This is why the story is a tragedy. Not an irony, not a romance. A tragedy.


The plot line for tragedy starts with the world in conflict. In the beginning of the book, Coyotito get’s stung by a scorpion. Then there’s rise to power for Kino when he finds the pearl. Next there’s a tragic flaw when none of the pearl dealers wouldn’t buy his pearl because “it was fake”. Now everything starts to fall apart. Kino “accidently” kills a man, beats Juana, and they have to hide otherwise they will be killed. At the end there was death. The baby dies of being shot in the head. The story fits the whole plotline. So, clearly it’s a tragedy.


There wasn’t much symbolism for tragedy, but there was some. Like, usually it was dark or night time when they were outside. Also, in the beginning of the story, a dog went up to Kino and begged for food. Another thing would be that there were very harsh winds when they were walking to the capital. That night when they were in the cave, there was a wolf howling in the distance. There’s one more when Kino saw those guys on horses looking for him and his family. So, I guess there kind of was a lot, but not at the same time. You’re never really sure what the mode of literature books are.


In the story, “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck, there are many bad things that happen. It teaches you a lesson of how you shouldn’t be so greedy or superstitious, like Kino and Juana, or bad things might happen. Basically the meaning of this book is to listen to what people have to say and don’t ignore them. They might seem like a bad idea at the time, but at the end you realize you should’ve listened to them. And you’ll realize that you made a big mistake. It’s also just taught the readers a moral lesson. As you can see, this book is truly a tragedy. You can tell by just looking at the plot line, the symbolism, and just using common sense.