HOW DOES STEINBECK PRESENT RACE IN THE PEARL?

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THE PEARL

HOW DOES STEINBECK PRESENT RACE IN THE PEARL?

The story centres on Kino, a pearl diver, his wife Juana and their son Coyotito.  Although the family live in poverty they also live peacefully.  Whilst out gathering pearls one day Kino finds a huge pearl. Kino tries to sell the pearl but the pearl buyers try to cheat him.  Kino is attacked and has to flee.   They are being followed by trackers who want to steal the pearl. Kino kills the trackers but in the fight Coyotito is killed.  Kino and Juana return to their village and throw the pearl back in to the sea.

Steinbeck spent time working with immigrant Mexican workers on farms and in factories.  He understood them and their concerns.  Steinbeck wanted to highlight the plight and conditions of these Mexican workers.  Steinbeck uses Kino and Juana as symbolic of the community in which they live.   In 1940 Steinbeck made a research trip to the Gulf of California, he visited a town called La Paz.  It was here that Steinbeck first heard the tale of a boy and a giant pearl.  This tale was the inspiration for The Pearl.

 There is a strong moral theme running through the pearl that one should be content with one’s life and with greed comes misfortune.  Kino seeks wealth and status through the pearl; it changes him from a happy contented man in to a killer and wife beater.  It is human nature to dream of a better life, this longing for something better is a theme of The Pearl but as with most of these tales it ends in tragedy for the seeker of the better life.  Finding the pearl allowed Kino to fight against his destiny.  To change the natural order of his life.  To step out of his culture and his society.  With the pearl comes hope, the promise of comfort and security but this has to be balanced with the dangerous and disastrous effects of stepping out of the established system.

 As the story begins Kino is perfectly content with his situation, despite his lack of possessions and his difficult existence.  Kino’s song in his head reflects his powerful feeling or emotions.   In chapter 1 Steinbeck uses the “song of the family” to tell the reader exactly what Kino is feeling.   Happy and content with his life.  Steinbeck uses a list of three when he say that as Kino watches his family he believes that this is “safety” , “warmth” and the “whole”,  this  reinforces to the reader that these 3 things are the entirety of everything Kino really needs.  It is important and significant for Steinbeck to show this early contentment as it acts as a contrast with the later panic that Kino and indeed Juana will feel once they receive the hope for a better future that comes with the pearl.

Steinbeck uses several comparisons to emphasize the differences between the simple native Indians and the more cultured European types.  Steinbeck provides descriptions of the village and the town both inside and outside the houses.  Kino has very few possessions and lives a basic existence; they have no door just a “lightening square” which came through where the door should be.  This is in direct contrast to the doctor who has many possessions and lives a luxurious lifestyle.  Whereas Kino had no door the doctor has a “big gate” with an “iron ring knocker”.   Kino lives in a “brush house” but the doctor lives in a house with “concrete walls”.  Kino does not have a bed he sleeps “on the mat”. The doctor, on the other hand, sleeps in a “high bed”.  The village in which Kino lives is presented as one that’s very basic, untidy and shabby,  all the villagers live in brush houses,  all the villagers do the same job.  It is a very close nit community.  The villages is open and friendly  Kino’s brother lives close by and when Coyotito is stung by the scorpion,  the whole village gathers round to see what’s going on.   In contrast to this the doctor’s town is very expensive, and luxurious.  The doctor’s house and all of the other houses are isolated by huge stone fences and an iron gate.  The town has a "blinding plaza” and a “church” neither of which Kino’s village has.  The village is clean and tidy; as they approached they heard the “sweep of the long broom on the flagstones”.  Even the ground is paved in the town.  There is a dividing line: the city becomes a massive block of cold stone and plaster, as opposed to the more flexible brush and dirt houses of the natives.

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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 ...

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