The Pearl Greed

Words: 527
Pages: 3

In the novella, The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, the main character deals with greed and jealousy from everyone. All of this jealousy is caused when he finds the “pearl of the world”. The moment he finds this pearl, people are trying to do anything in their will to get it going. Everyone in the town is after him to get the money for the pearl. One lesson to learn is the greed can cause people to resort to violence and trickery in order to get what they want.

One of the first problems that Kino is faced with is being lied to by the deceiving and greedy doctor. This happens because Kino’s son gets stung by a deadly scorpion and the doctor won’t help the kid because Kino has money to pay for treatment. The doctor says to Kino, “I was not in when you came this morning.” (29-30). This evidence shows that he is lying because we know that the doctor was at his house, but he would not help Kino because he had no money. The doctor has not helped any of these lower class people forever and he is just now helping them since one of them finally got the money. The doctor’s greed leads Kino to search for a pearl that would solve the present problem, yet the finding of this pearl only leads to more complicated conflicts for Kino.
…show more content…
Juanna tries to convince Kino to get rid of it since it has only brought evil. Eventually, Juanna gets so fed up with everything to the point that she tries to get rid of the pearl herself, “Her arm was up to throw when he leaped at her and caught her arm and wrenched the pearl from her.” (58-59). This quote shows that Kino is changing from a family guy to a greedy man who wants all the money he can get. This is relevant because it shows that Kino is slowly burning, on the inside and he is becoming really