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| Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men
Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men
Marco Zapletal
The Pearl
The Plot:
The parable “The Pearl” deals with a drastic
incident in the life of Kino, a poor Indian fisherman, and his wife. The story
is set in the little village “La Paz”, which is situated on the
coast of the Gulf on California.
A new day begins and Kino awakens next to his wife Juana in
their simple hut which is made of brush. The couple sleeps on mats on the dirt
floor and their little son Coyotito sleeps in a hanging box. Kino is happy and
content with his life despite the family is very poor. He watches the sunrise
and listens to the sounds of the morning. During he watches the sunrise he hears
the Song of the Family in his mind.
When Kino hears the Song of the Family playing in his mind,
it’s an indication, that all is well. The Song of the Family or the Song
of Evil, which occurs later in the play, are songs who play in the minds of the
Indian people in this story. These ancient songs have been passed from
generation to generation and they start to play in the minds of the Indian
people when good or evil things happen.
But suddenly a disaster happens, because a poisonous
scorpion stings Coyotito. Juana takes her child immediately and sucks out the
poison. Because of the screaming of Coyotito the whole neighbourhood comes to
the hut of the family, including Kino’s brother Juan Thomas and his wife
Apolonia. Juana tells Kino to get the doctor, but this is impossible, because of
the class distinction between Indian people and Spanish people. Kino also has no
money, to pay the doctor for his treatment. But Juana isn’t impressed by
that and decides to go to the doctor, because she wants to do everything for her
child. When the neighbourhood gets to know about their plan, they join Kino and
Juana walking to the doctor. But as supposed, the doctor denies to examine
Coyotito, because he family owns no money. Therefore Kino is in rage and he
angrily punches the door.
The next morning, when Kino and Juana come down to the
beach, she makes a poultice of seaweed and put it on Coyotito’s shoulder.
This remedy is probably as good as the treatment of the doctor, but the remedy
lacks his authority, because it is simple and doesn’t cost anything. Then
they push the canoe into the water and paddle together to the oyster bed where
Kino fishes and searches for pearls. Kino knows, that a great pearl will bring
him a lot of money, but he doesn’t dare to hope for such a great pearl,
because it isn’t good to want too much. A short time after Kino started to
dive, he finds a large oyster in which is a great and perfect pearl. Now
Kino’s troubles seem to be over and he believes that the pearl will make
him rich and that his son Coyotito can be cured and go to school some day. While
Kino he holds the pearls in his hand, the swelling of Coyotito’s shoulder
has gone down. It seems, that the poison is leaving the body of the child. Kino
is screams very loud, because he is so happy now, and this loud screaming
attracts the other fishers and divers and they come to his canoe to look what
has happened.
Because Kino is a rich man now, the other people are envious
of him and he becomes an outsider. In the following night he is even attacked by
a thief, who wants to steal the great pearl. And the people become interested in
Kino, because they want his money. The priest comes, because he needs money for
some repairs of the church and even the doctor claims now, that the son of the
family, Coyotito, is a patient of him. When the doctor comes to Kino`s hut, Kino
is filled with fear and rage, but he lets the doctor in when he claims, that
there can be a delayed reaction to the scorpion sting. The doctor makes a great
show and uses different remedies to “heal” Coyotito, who already
seems very healthy. He even visits Coyotito a second time and claims then, that
he won the fight against the death.
Later in the night Kino is attacked a second time by a thief
in their hut. Kino is wounded in the fight and Juana begs Kino now to throw the
pearl away, because she feels it is evil and it will destroy the family. But
Kino refuses, because he wants to realise his dreams.
The next day Kino tries to sell the pearl to pearl buyers in
the town, but they only offer him a very small amount of money. They know, that
the pearl is worth a lot, but they want to buy it very cheap and pretend that it
is no good. Kino is very angry about this and says that he will sell his pearl
in the capital, because he wants to get a fair price.
In the evening, Kino is attacked again, but he can chase
away the attacker. Juana believes, that the pearl is evil and wants Kino once
more to throw it away. Later in the night, Juana removes quietly from her
sleeping place and goes out of the hut with something in her hand. She wants to
throw the pearl away, but Kino stops her and beats her for this attempt. When he
returns to his hut, Kino is attacked again, but this time by two men. He kills
one of them and the other one escapes. Kino knows that he must go away now,
because he killed someone. Before they can escape, their canoe is destroyed and
their hut is burned. They hide until the next night in the hut of Kino’s
brother, Juan Thomas.
In the following night the family start their journey to the
capital, but soon they realise, that they are chased by a group of three people.
The family flee up the mountain and hide in a small cave and their pursuers
pitch their camp not far away from them. Kino knows that the only possibility to
survive is, to kill one person of the group, to take his rifle, and to kill the
other two, who are sleeping.
When Kino starts to attack the man with the rifle, suddenly
his son Coyotito begins to cry and the man with the rifle shoots in this
direction. But then Kino overpowers the man and he also kills the other two man.
When Kino returns to the cave, he sees that his son Coyotito was killed before
by the shot of the man.
On the next day Kino and Juana return to their town carrying
their dead child and the rifle. They walk through the town to the coast without
speaking to anyone and throw the pearl into the sea.
Main Characters:
Kino: He is an honest and responsible man, who dives
for pearls to support his family. He works very hard, but nevertheless he is
very poor. When his son Coyotito gets ill, he hopes to find a pearl to able to
pay for his cure. He also hopes, that such a pearl provides him and his family
peace and wealth in the future. Like most human beings, he wants to get
ahead.
But Kino is also very intelligent, because he knows that he
and the other Indians have been exploited by rich and powerful man. He also
realises, that he has become a new victim for the exploitation by powerful men
after he had found the pearl. The doctor or the pearl buyers are the best
example for such men. But Kino becomes aware of this and in the end of the story
he sees, that the powerful and rich man would even kill him and his family, to
get more power and money.
Juana: She is a very intelligent and responsible
personality, but also a loving and devoted wife. At first it seems, that she is
completely servile and that she would do anything what Kino wants. But in course
of the play we see that she has a great inner strength and will. For example at
the beginning, when her son is bitten by a scorpion, she acts in the right way
and tries to suck out the poison out of Coyotito’s body. She also insists
that they go to the doctor, although the other people mean, that the doctor
won’t cure Coyotito.
Juana has also a strong instinct to save the life of her
baby. When the doctor refuses to cure Coyotito, Kino punches angrily on the door
of the doctor, but his wife acts in the right way and tries to heal Coyotito by
putting a poultice of seaweed on the shoulder of her son.
She also acts with the same strength when she wants to throw
the pearl away, because she believes that this pearl threatens her family, but
in this case Kino has his way and is able to stop her.
The doctor: He is the typical rich and powerful
inhabitant of “La Paz”. For him, money counts more than a human
life. Even when Kino and Juana comes to his house with their ill son Coyotito,
he refuses to cure him, because he wouldn’t get any money for the
treatment. But when he hears that Kino found a pearl and is now a rich man, he
claims that Coyotito is his patient and pretends to worry about the ill baby.
Therefore the doctor is a very materialistic character, who symbolises the
arrogance of powerful people towards poor people.
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