The Pearl

Drew Barth

1/20/2011

LA

The Pearl

            It was a warm and misty morning when Kino awoke from his bed. He heard the song of evil and could not get it out. It was coming from Coyotito’s room he was sleeping peacefully with a small scorpion on his arm. Kino came to his bed and tried to swat it away and it happened the baby got stung. He woke up screaming with pain. That’s why finding the pearl for Kino and Juana was very much needed when he got stung and could have saved him. In the book The Pearl by John Steinbeck the pearl was much needed to save Coyotito but was it worth his life?

            The pearl was never worth someone’s life that is pretty obvious but when Kino can’t understand that the baby gets taken away and into a better place. Juana was very happy in the beginning of the book because the pearl was going to help Coyotito with his scorpion sting. Then when Juana realized that the pearl was no need anymore because the baby got better. When Juana realized this she knew that this pearl was a demon and had to be thrown away so no one could have it, but she gave into Kino’s word. The bad part is that Coyotito didn’t have choice between life and death and didn’t understand anything that was going on and could not product himself from the evil pearl. 

            The Pearl plotline is interesting it was hard to understand but at the end of the book it was clear of what it is. It’s a tragedy plotline it is like this because first the storyline is in conflict by Coyotito getting stung. Then there is a huge raise to power by Kino finding the pearl of the world. Then when Kino can’t find a buyer to trade with him he gets mad and the story turns to chaos. Finally when Kino, Juana, and baby Coyotito try to get to the capital they get found and hunted by trackers. When they seem like they were almost going to make it out alive and have a happy ending, but not the helpless Coyotito he gets in the crossfire and has a very tragic death. The whole family took the hit with him mentally and Kino and Juana will probably never be the same again.
            In the beginning of the book Kino and Juana were a very good team they worked together and thought together. They had good plans for their family once they found the pearl. In the middle of the book John Steinbeck did a very nice job giving the book a very fast beat. It made the book have any possible outcome and that was just great. In the end of the book it had the same beat but it just dropped at the end when Coyotito got shot and the story just got very sad and depressed.

The Pearl was a great book and it was a good read. The only question that comes up about this book is was the pearl worth taking someone’s life? Another thing that would have been better to this book is a sequel to it, to show us what Kino and Juana did with their lives after coyotito.