Ignorance In John Steinbeck's The Pearl

"if curiosity killed the cat it was satisfaction what brought it back." as well said, Eugene O 'Neill. Steinbeck phrases that Ignorance is man’s most powerful weapon for wealthy people, meanwhile for lower class people, ignorance is destruction. The novella is placed in the time of colonialism, a time period in which highlights the major struggles of The Pearl, that came along the way, it became like an unstoppable barrier with Kino. Man vs Society. "You must be careful to see they do not cheat you" he said (Juan Tomas) chpt 4 this demonstrates that they suspect something is going to happen..Kino in The Pearl, is mostly ignorant and shows lack of knowledge, that influences different roles of his life, and through corruption of the Spanish

Started as a blameless beginning and ended as a drastic satisfaction. "His senses were dulled by his emotion." (chpt 4) this quote represents Kino 's desire of the pearl. His urge of power and money was building dramatically. This quote was introduced in the event where he physically attacks Juana. Kino experiences the struggle with greed. It is human nature that we always want more than what we are already given to us. There is an emphasis on the power of education, and through the events we know that Kino hopes his son is given an opportunity of education, because he recognizes the disadvantage of being uneducated, in a society where knowledge is power. “A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet. A town is a thing separate from all other towns, so that they are no towns alike(...)” Chapter 3 This quote states that there are many things that build up to a town, for example in this case the priest, the pearl dealers, the wealthy, the villagers. All of these things take part of the novella. Reminding us that Kino was being used by the priest to use the money for the church. The pearl dealers lowered the price of the pearl and declared the pearl as being not valuable and in reality it was. “‘You have heard of fool’s gold’ the dealer said, ‘This pearl is like fool’s gold. It is too large. Who would buy it?There is no market for such things. It is curiosity only. I am sorry. You thought it was a thing of value, and it is only a curiosity’”(Chapter 4) And the wealthy, as an example the doctor, used Kino’s ignorance to try and delude him to pay a treatment that wasn’t completely loyal. Kino became affected by all these actions that were made, and he began to obsess with benefits that the pearl could’ve conveyed. Kino had a shift in characters once it came to the conclusion that he had the pearl in his