The Pearl BY: RYANN LINTHICUM

 Summary:

 “It is not good to want a thing too much. You must want it just enough, and you must be very tactful with God or the gods.” Page 24.

   In a little town, near the village of La Paz, lived a young family. This consisted of Kino, his wife Juana, and their son Coyotito. They were poor natives, who earned money by Kino diving for pearls. In the beginning of the story this family lived in their town, happy. They struggled at times with their lack of money, which made Kino sad; he only wanted the best for his family. When he was given the “pearl of the world” he realized that happiness couldn’t be bought.

  The story began with their son, Coyotito getting stung by a scorpion, which would usually kill a child of his age. Juana did everything she could to help save him, while Kino contacted the doctor. The neighbors stated that the doctor would never come out to this town; he was a racist doctor that only cared about money. When hearing this Kino decides that they will go to the doctor then. When they arrived, the doctor wouldn’t look at the sick baby because they had no money. This is when everything began; this is when he pulled up the pearl, the one-in-a-million pearl.

   “For it is said that humans are very 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.” Page 37.

    As the story went on, Kino was amazed by this pearl, he saw happiness for his family, but little did he know the happiness was already there. When the pearl story had gotten all over town, people started to use Kino to get to the pear by taking advantage of him, such as the doctor. When the pearl started to bring evil, Kino decided to sell it. Kino had an idea of what the pearl should have been worth, but when the pearl buyers placed a low price, Kino was greedy and decided to take it to the capital.

    As he planned to go to the capital, it was harder to fight off people. Evil had gotten around. One night Juana tried to get rid of the pearl by throwing back to where it came from, but when Kino caught her just in time, he was very angry. He slapped her, and it threw Juana to the ground, while Kino ran off with the pearl. Then somebody tried to take the pearl from Kino while walking home, but Kino fought back and killed him. This made them decided to run, and they left town immediately with Juan Tomas making up an excuses for where they went. People still followed, so one night Kino went off to kill the trackers. While doing this, Coyotito was shot and killed. When arriving back home, Juana and Kino were miserable, throwing the devil pearl back where it came from. 

520 words

Reflection:

  I believe The Pearl was a good parable, or a short story used to state a moral or a lesson. It teaches people about greed as a destructive force, and also the triumph of evil over good. In the story the main character, named Kino, was a poor native that wanted nothing more then to make his family happy. He knew he lacked money but it wasn’t until Coyotito got sick, that he realized how poor he was. This angered him, and rage built up inside. He thought that if he could round up a couple more pearls he would be able to help his only son get better. When he found the pearl of the world, the devil inside was passed on to Kino. After having the pear for a while Kino got greedy, and thought that the pearl could buy them happiness, but everybody knows that money cant buy happiness.

“ 'I am cheated,’ Kino cried fiercely. ‘My pearl is not for sale here. I will go, perhaps even to the capital.’” Page 67.

As the quote states, too much money always gets to peoples head, thinking they can have everything in the world. Kino was greedy, not taking the 1,500 pesos he was offered he wanted more, much more. Greed is a destructive force and it got to Kino, resulting in horrific things that he thought never possible, resulting in to disappointment, anger, and depression. After greed, came evil.

“ ‘Kino, this pearl is evil. Let us destroy it before it destroys us. Let us crush it between two stones. Let us—let us throw it back in the sea where it belongs. Kino, it is evil, it is evil!’ ”  Page 73.

As said by Juana, the pearl did destroy them, the evil in the pearl had gotten out. Kino, of course did not listen to what his wife had to say, he was already taken over by greed. As the evil triumphed over good, there was barley any good left. When they finally had to leave town, unknown because the evil in the pearl was so major, the devil had gotten out. “This was evil beyond thinking.” Page 80. The evil had gotten around and soon Kino came to his senses, realizing it.

“ ‘It is the pearl,’ said Juan Tomas. ‘There is a devil in this pearl. You should have sold it and passed on the devil. Perhaps you can sell it and by peace for yourself.’ “ Page 84.

Juan, Kino’s brother, was the one who brought Kino to his senses, telling him to leave. Leaving just made things worse. When trying to fight off the trackers, his only baby boy gets shot at, and dies. Kino felt horrible, and couldn’t believe what had gotten over him. When they returned home, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He through that devil back where it came from, but he never received back what he had lost.

The moral to this story, is that money cannot buy happiness and that greed can destroy everything, as shown it the story. This can teach us all to not be greedy, and appreciate what we have, even if what we have is noting, as shown in the story. The only thing that should be important is family, but you can lose that very easily, as shown in the story. You may be brought back to your senses, but you can never make up what greed can loose you. 

580 words