The Pearl/YMMV

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• Family-Unfriendly Aesop: Never attempt to better yourself or your family, it will end horribly. Also, helping your child is greedy.
• Lost Aesop: The original moral is supposed to be interpreted as 'Greed is bad'. Since when was curing your child of poison and wanting to get your kid an education greedy? Or getting officially married?
  • Looked at in the cultural context of the setting, and the lack of education of the lower classes, it would actually make sense. Consider: In listing the things he wants to achieve with the riches from the pearl, Kino says he will legally marry Juana and buy the family new clothes. Okay, reasonable. Then he goes on to say he wants to get a rifle for himself (he does eventually), and he'll send Coyotito to school - this last a major deal for his neighbors because of the cultural influence education will have on their simple way of life that they've known for generations. Then, later on in the novel, Kino rehashes these dreams, but his rendition of them is gradually much more grandiose than when they were first mentioned.
  • Weren't the pearl-buying cartel, the doctor, and the various people who tried to steal the pearl (leading eventually to Coyotito's death) motivated by greed?