The Pearl by John Steinback

The novel ‘The Pearl’ was written by John Steinback in the year 1948. It is a story about

the people in La Paz, Bolivia. The story starts with Kino and Juana waking up from the bed

listening to the music, the Song of the Family in his head. They are Mexican-Indian living in

poverty and simple life. He only sell pearl to earn money for his family and catch fish for food. We

can see that he is a family man because he loves his family. The way his morning describes in

the story shows that he is grateful for the life that he and his family have. He is happy that he can

provide for the family despite the lack of wealth he still can be satisfied with what he ate for

breakfast and so on.

After the description of the good life that Kino had, Steinback turn the story into a bad

situation when Coyotito were stung by a scorpion while in his hammock. For a small baby, a stung

of the scorpion could have killed him very quickly. But the quick response from Juana sucking out

the poison from Coyotito’s body made the poison react slowly. The scorpion symbolizes danger

that can come anytime to disturb a happy family. Steinback describes the story in the beginning

like a happy and calm family but suddenly things changed upside down after Coyotito got stung

by the scorpion.

Kino and Juana went to the doctor to get treatment. The doctor being greedy and would

not work without any payment, refused to see the sick toddler. Kino was devastated after he got

the response from the servant of the doctor. He did not want his firstborn son to die to a scorpion

sting.