The Pearl Reflection/ Review

"The Pearl," by John Steinbeck, is a suspenseful and quick- moving novella. It is a good introduction to his work, being much less tedious than others of his books.

The book is about Kino, his wife Juana, and their baby boy Coyotito. They are a poor family living in a poor village, and to make money, Kino dives for pearls. One day Kino finds an eerily large and perfect pearl,  worth  thousands of pesos. He goes to the local pearl buyers, and  believes they're trying to cheat him. Juana, noticing the obsessive aditude Kino has developed, claims that the pearl is evil and that he should sell it away quickly. But Kino wants to go to the capital and try for a higher price. When on the way, tragedy strikes them, and Coyotito ends up dead. The book ends with Kino throwing the pearl back into the water.

The book was full of symbolism, most of it centering around how riches can corrupt, and how family is more important than it. Before Kino found the pearl, they were a happy, albeit poor family, but by the end of the story, the pearl had destroyed them. When he throws the pearl into the water, he was choosing Juana over the money, and no doubt bitter and angry over what had happened.

The book also demonstrates how shallow and self- absorbed the human race is. In the story, a doctor refuses to treat Coyotito when he is bitten by a snake, but after Kino finds the pearl and becomes temporaily wealthy, he welcomes them in and uses his best treatment.

Overall, the book was both entertaining and insightful, themed, but not droning. It was a lovely read and I may read more of Steinbeck.