The Pearl

A 1947 novella by John Steinbeck.

The Pearl is the story of Kino, a poor diver. Kino's son, Coyotito, is stung by a scorpion. In order to pay the doctor to cure him, Kino goes diving for pearls. (It's his job anyway, but it's got extra urgency now.) He eventually finds the Pearl of the World - bigger and more valuable than any anyone in the town has seen before.

News of the pearl precedes Kino everywhere he goes: some of his neighbours are jealous; influential people recognise him in the street; the doctor, who was previously disinterested, suddenly can't wait to treat his son; and thieves try to rob his house in the night. The only people who don't seem excited are the local pearl dealers, all of whom offer far lower prices than he (and the rest of the population) thinks the pearl is worth. The dealers all belong to a cartel, and Kino justifiably believes they've agreed in advance to rip him off.

Seeing in the pearl the chance to improve his family's lives, Kino is determined to get a good price for it, but his wife Juana warns him that it will destroy the family. Soon they are attacked, their house is looted and burned, and Kino's canoe is sabotaged. Kino borrows a hunting knife from his brother and they leave in the night, hoping to walk to the country's capital and sell the pearl there. Unfortunately, their disappearance is noted and shadowy figures are soon in pursuit.

The story was filmed in 1947.


 * Ambition Is Evil
 * Artifact of Attraction: The pearl
 * Artifact of Doom: Sort of, because Humans Are the Real Monsters.
 * Does Not Wear Shoes: Juana, probably due to Barefoot Poverty.
 * Downer Ending:
 * Fantastic Racism
 * Gold Fever: More like pearl fever.
 * Greed: A major theme in the book. Leading to...
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters
 * It Got Worse: Oh, so very much.
 * It's All Junk
 * Jerkass: The doctor who treats Coyotito comes to mind...
 * Littlest Cancer Patient (okay, it's not cancer exactly, but...)
 * Leitmotif: A literary example in Kino and Juana's Song of Family and The Pearl's Song of Evil
 * MacGuffin: The pearl, of course.
 * Meaningful Name: Coyotito is, if it wasn't clear enough, named after a coyote. Which leads to him
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kino goes on one in the penultimate chapter.
 * We Could Have Avoided All This: After Kino refuses the pearl dealer's offer of 1000 and then 1500 pesos for the pearl (because he believes it's worth at least fifty times that much and that the dealer's trying to cheat him), some of his neighbors express the view that he should have accepted the 1500, since that's wealth enough to a poor man who's never had any money.