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Reflection Of The Pearl By John Steinbeck

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Written by John Steinbeck, The Pearl is a story of many morals that also provides entertainment by mystification which keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The main character of the novel is Kino, and he along with his wife Juana and their infant son Coyotito live among the other dark skinned civilians on the outskirts of La Paz. Unlike Kino and his neighbors, the whites have been living in the town with their wealth and commodities and have been shunning the darks for generations. Over time, the lack of respect and kindness given to the darks, left them with little or no money. After Coyotito is bitten by a scorpion, Juana and Kino look for the aid of the village doctor, but when they ask for help, the doctors replies the same way …show more content…

This pearl just so happened to be so large and beautiful that Kino could potentially acquire more money than any of the darks had ever seen. At the sound of this, many people tried to cheat Kino out of money on the pearl and in some cases people attempted to steal it. Kino would end up changing into a different man after his protective instincts were pulled out from within for the sake of keeping the pearl. Throughout the remainder of the story, Kino is protecting the pearl at all costs- even if it means hurting his wife- in hopes of preserving the pearl long enough to sell it for the highest price. After ultimately losing Coyotito, Kino snaps out of his insanity and realizes the destruction of the pearl and gets rid of it, hoping that it wouldn 't hurt anyone ever again(Steinbeck, The Pearl).Within this essay will be four points relating to The Pearl: what is the meaning of the story, what was the author 's purpose for writing the story, what does wealth and power disparity do to a community and its individuals, and how does the story compared to today 's society and its …show more content…

As seen in The Pearl, wealth and the idea of wealth drew people further apart. The wealthy whites of the village is what left the darks on the outskirts of town. This wealth also brought the power disparity. It is common in the world that whoever has the money also has the power to do more. Due to the wealth and power disparity in The Pearl, the darks were left behind and were shown no kindness from the whites. Just as The Pearl, the community and its individuals of today are being affected by wealth and power disparity because as given at, “[3.55 billion of the world’s poor population are living on the same amount of money as the 85 richest people]”(World’s 85 Richest). This is showing how the wealth of the world is leaving multiple people extremely far behind but also in the shadows when it comes to having power because again, power comes from

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