Steinbeck provides stark contrast between the foods that Kino eats compared to that of the doctor. Kino eats a simple and basic breakfast, “hot corn cakes” and “plaque”, the only breakfast he has ever known. The doctor however, eats bacon every morning, not just ordinary bacon but “good bacon”. This is a luxury breakfast that Kino has never had. The doctor eats a lot of processed foods that have a high fat content; this is why he is “growing stout”. When the doctor pours himself a second cup of “chocolate” this illustrates greed in the doctor. The only time that Kino eats well is on feast days. On one such feast he ate cookies and they “nearly killed him”.
When describing the clothing that the doctor wears Steinbeck presents it as very expensive, he describes a “dressing gown” that has come from the fashion capitol Paris and is made from “silk”. Steinbeck again illustrates the doctor’s greed and overeating by saying that it was “abit tight”. The doctor’s clothes represent wealth and over indulgence. Kino’s clothes are very old and tatty. Steinbeck used the beggars outside the church to assess the clothes worn by Kino and Juana. They could read the age of Kino’s blanket and the “thousand washings” of the clothes he was wearing. Because of these clothes the beggars were able to categorise them as “poverty people”. However, by describing how Juana braids her hair and ties it with the green ribbon. Steinbeck is able to illustrate that although they do not have a lot they still take pride in their appearance.
Steinbeck presents Kino and the doctor in very different ways when he is looking at their attitudes to nature. Kino and his race live very close to nature, they respect nature, and their lives are controlled by nature. Kino has no electricity so the sun/nature decides their day. When they wake, when they sleep. Kino’s world is natural and free. Whereas Kino and his race represent the natural, the descriptions of the doctor suggest that he represents everything that is not natural. The doctor represents a society that is materialistic. Everything including nature is owned or controlled. The gardens are not natural, they are artificially planted. An example of the doctors control of nature is the water fountain, not only are they controlling the water, it is also being wasted. The animals that Kino sees around his village are free. Significantly Kino sees “a covey of little birds chattered and flurried their wings” this Steinbeck perhaps uses as a metaphor for the villagers. In contrast when Kino reaches the town he can hear “caged birds” singing inside somewhere. These birds are owned, they are not free. Perhaps Steinbeck also intended them to be used as a metaphor for the town dwellers. The town dwellers seem themselves like caged birds.
Steinbeck uses basic language to describe Kino’s way of life whereas with the doctor he uses language that is more delicate and luxurious. These differences in language reflect the differences in their lifestyles. Kino’s being one of poverty and hardship, eating basic food like “hot corn cake” to the doctors life of wealth and luxury, eating processed expensive food like “good bacon” and “chocolate”. Steinbeck uses antithesis when describing the doctor’s luxurious lifestyle when he compares “cooling” and “hot”. This illustrates the controlling and wasteful nature of the doctor and the townspeople as a whole.
The use of animal imagery is very important. Kino’s interaction with the ants in chapters 1 and 6 reveal a great deal about his position and attitude, they provide an important contrast with one another. In chapter 1 during the idyllic opening scene. Kino watches with the “detachment of god” as the ants go about their business. The description of the ant caught in the sand trap is a foreshadowing of Kino’s eventual experience, being unable to escape his own ambitions. In chapter 6 however, Kino has just spent a hellish night trying to “escape to the north” again Kino is sat watching the ants. This encounter is describing Kino after the pearl has corrupted him. He is no longer detached from nature, no longer god like. When he puts his foot in their path the ants “climbed over” and went about their business. Kino can’t change nature. These 2 interactions with ants draws a parallel between Kino's relationship with nature and god’s relationship with him.
The scorpion acts in 2 ways, firstly it establishes that Kino’s existence is precarious because it illustrates the possibility of danger that the family faces. The scorpion threatens the security and safety of the family unit. It also forces Kino in to the town and the world of the doctor. Secondly it acts as a symbol of evil. Coyotito, an innocent child is stung by this evil. The destruction of innocence through evil. This foreshadows what is to become of Kino, because this destruction of innocence repeats itself later with the destruction of Kino’s innocence by his ambition and greed. This forces Kino in to the town and the world of the doctor.
Steinbeck shows the reaction of various members of the town to the discovery of the great pearl: the beggars remember that a poor man becomes very generous when suddenly wealthy. The shopkeepers look at all the men’s clothes that had not sold so well. The priest wonders if Kino will contribute to the church. He visits Kino only as a means of gaining some of the money for the church, when he says “remember to give thanks” he is shamelessly asking Kino to thank god with money for the good fortune he has received. The doctor announces that Coyotito is his patient and visits Kino. Steinbeck makes it clear that the doctor does not visit Kino to cure his son. He indicates that the doctor’s treatment of Coyotito might even be unnecessary. When Kino tells the doctor that the baby “is nearly well now” the doctor is able to use superstition to frighten Kino into letting him treat the child. He suggests all sort of horrible evils that may affect the baby from a “withered leg” to a “crumpled back” Kino may be able to pay the doctor, but he is ignorant as to whether he is making the right choice. Kino is uneducated and powerless and the doctor used both of these factors to manipulate him. Kino’s desire that his son obtain an education shows that Kino recognises that education is the escape from colonial oppression. Steinbeck presented the townspeople as negative, selfish and greedy this foreshadows what Kino’s attitude will become, negative, selfish and greedy.
Kino constantly thinks of the good that the pearl will bring him. Kino’s dreams are to be married in the church, to buy a new harpoon and to have what Steinbeck describes as the “wildest daydream”, an “impossibility”, a rifle. Steinbeck tells the reader that if Kino could think of having a rifle then a whole new world will open up to him. A world more like the materialistic town then his basic village. But Kino’s biggest dream is that his son Coyotito will be able to go to school and learn how to read and write. Kino believes that Coyotito will help free him and his family from the ignorance that makes them fear the townspeople. Kino perhaps now feels that he can be as good as them, an equal. Kino’s focus shifts in this chapter, in his single minded pursuit of success and wealth for his son Kino abandons the emotional needs of his family and cares for them in a materialistic way. Kino’s leaves Juana to care for the baby while he finds a place to hide the pearl. He stabs an intruder who tries to steel the pearl. Kino’s life has now shifted from one of peaceful coexistence in his village to violence and suspicion.
Steinbeck presents the pearl buyers as manipulative and as devious as the priest and doctor. Steinbeck doesn’t give them names or any sort of character but illustrates their personality in other ways. He use of the dark dimness of their offices with the windows barred with “wooden slats” and animal imagery when he describes Kino’s thoughts of them as “circling of wolves” and “hover of vultures” helps to set the tone of the pearl buyers. Steinbeck uses the first buyer practising a coin trick to symbolise the underhanded nature of their personality. This trick is used at fairs and carnivals to cheat innocent bystanders and this is what they attempt to do to Kino.
The pearl has changed Kino’s personality. In chapter 1 Kino was content in his poverty; a situation that Kino thought was the “whole”. He was at one with nature, part of nature but now he feels alienated from nature and everything else. As Steinbeck says “Kino has lost one world and has not gained another”. Kino is becoming like the townspeople, he is becoming materialistic. He has to protect his possessions. When Juana takes action and tries to throw the pearl away Kino beats her. Kino steps out of the natural order and even nature is against him at the end. Kino is “happy for the wind” because it will cover their tracks but then with nature against him, the wind dies down and Kino knows that there will be footprints left behind.
Steinbeck presents Kino’s race as being very poor. Kino’s race has been exploited by the townspeople for hundreds of years. They fear the townspeople who are educated and therefore have power. Steinbeck portrays Kino’s race as basically good people. The townspeople however come across as evil. The priest, doctor and pearl buyers try to manipulate Kino with their knowledge. Steinbeck wants the reader to sympathise with Kino. This becomes harder to do after Kino found the pearl because his personality changed so much. He became ambitious and greedy much like the townspeople. Kino redeemed himself at the end of the novella when he threw the pearl back into the sea. Although it can be said by that point in the story the pearl has become an unwanted object that only causes him pain and no longer has the power to provide for a better future.
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