The Pearl by:John Steinbeck

The story begins in the small village of "La Paz" or "The Peace" where Kino, the man of the house; Juana, the strong wife both emotionally and physically; and Coyotito, their baby live in their humble grass hut scarcely making enough money to survive. As morning breaks, Kino lies in his mat listening to the pounding of shore break while birds outside indulge on a pile of tuna scraps. Slowly but gently, Kino hears the song of the Family play in his head and a melody of peace and happiness overwhelms him. Soon the house is alive while Juana holds Coyotito close to her and cooks corn cakes for a morning sustenance. Kino on the other hand, was watching the sunrise and came and sat to eat his meal. As the glare of the sun broke through crevices in the grass hut, light shone on Coyotito's rope holding his box where he slept. A tiny and unnoticeable movement caught their eyes and as Juana and Kino froze, a scorpion dangled down the rope quickly towards Coyotito and the song of evil engulfed the peaceful serenity that came from his own song bringing music of the enemy, of any foe, a savage, secret dangerous song that uproars into his head while the song of his family cried to be released. Quietly but smoothly, like an owl, Kino was on the move towards the scorpion and he fought to hold his breath down while it tried to roar from his nostrils, Juana sang an ancient magic to guard against such an evil passed down through the generations of her people and under that a Hail Mary between clenthced teeth. Kino was just within reach of the scorpion when it noticed danger and its deadly tailed jerked up and tweaked while the venom oozed into a drop on its shining tip. Kino moved slowly and carfully when suddenly the laughing Coyotito shook the rope and down fell the scorpion. It slipped through his hands and struck right at its target and Coyotito screeched from pain. Kino grabbed the scorpion and annihilated it till all you could see was a blotch of wet dirt but Juana had the baby in her arms by now trying to such the poison from its sting. The whole village knew that an adult would get sick from such a bite but a baby like Coyotito would surely die without help. Kino a responsible father sent for a doctor but no doctor would come. Juana and Kino did not surrender they pursued their goal to get a doctor and decided to march into town and go to him. As Kino thought about it, he already knew what the Doctor would do, he was of a race that starved, beat down, and deprived his people of rights and freedoms for 400 years. The song of evil played loudly in him and he still marched on. At the gate to the doctor's house, Kino thought carefully and took the iron ring and pounded on the door. A few minutes later the door opened a few inches and he could see a man of his own race open the door. Kino spoke to him in the old language and told him what happened. The man closed the gate and came back to say he could offer no help, 8 small worthless pearls werent enough. Kino and Juana still did not give up, they got to their canoe and rowed out into the ocean above the oyster beds where the pearls lay. Kino grabbed his knife and basket and rock, and sank to the bottom collecting as many shells as possible. Then, as soon as he was about to go to the surface, an oyster shell caught his eye through a patch of seaweed almost hidden. He floated to the top and cut open shells leaving the big one for last. Now this other shell looked different, it had no barnacles or sea moss growing on it and it was fairly big. He cut it with his knife ripping through its meat when the oyster gave up. As he opened it, a flash caught his eyes and he took out a huge pearl the size of a sea gull's egg. The song of the sea turned into the song of the pearl and played through his mind. He looked at Coyotito and noticed his swelling had gone down when Juana said "Kino look" and he could see Coyotito arch back and his body shaked rigidly. Now nearby divers paddled their canous towards Kino's and saw the great pearl. As soon as Kino and his family got to shore the whole town knew of the great pearl. It traveled from th village to the beggars into the church, shopkeepers and then into the doctors ear. After the doctor learned of this great pearl he came and gave Coyotito a pill and he got better. Later, the priest came and told Kino to remember to offer to God for such a blessing. But all Kino could think of was his son and family and he dreamt of teaching his son how to read and write, him getting a rifle, and Juana and Kino getting married and all the clothes and food they could have. The next day they traveled to town and went to go see the pearl buyers. they only offered him a small amount because they thought kino was too stubborn to know the true price of a pearl so large. Kino and Juana decided to travel to the capital to sell the pearl at a fair price without being cheated because of their race. That night as Kino was lying in hi mat, the song of evil could not get out of his head. It had played all day and didn't stop for one second. Even after finding the Pearl. In the middle of the night, someone had come inside his hut to steal the pearl. Kino flung out of his bed and fought with the dark figure taking out his knife a flinging it wildly at his mark. The thief left and Kino could feel the warmth of his blade and knew his knife had struck its mark. Although it was not over yet. Someone burnt his house down ans as the village thought they were dead, Kino fled to the capitol. Early, next morning, Kino embarks off to the capitol and finds his canoe destroyed. The song of evil plays in his head and they go the other way over the mountains. The wind blew hard and covered their tracks. They walked monotously and as Kino looked back he could see three dark figures and it looked like one man on horseback and two men by his side and he knew exactly what they were after and the song of evil played again in his head as he clutched his pearl. That night as the bounty hunters camped by their fire, kino snuck behind them and killed two with his knife. The third ran off injured and he grabbed the horseman's rifle and shot at the dark figure. The dark figure was not the bounty hunter. Kino and Juana walked down the trail back towards their village and when they got to the sea they buried Coyotito and flung the great pearl back into the sea.

My Reflection: I personally thought this book was well written and it was short and straight to the point. The point was that greed no matter how good it may seem can get you in places you don't want to be. In the book Kino starts off listening to the song of his family and slowly , the song of evil engulfs all happiness and brings sorrow and danger. I highly recommend this book to any reader willing for a book with adventure, excitement and a point to it. It also points out that bad things can happen to good people even though they don't deserve it. Greed also changed Kino himself. He risked his own familys health for the sake of the pearl and did not heed to his wifes warnings after beating her. This shows how greed can change a peaceful responsible man into a savage man willing to do anything for wealth.