In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the pearl diver Kino’s son is stung by a poisonous scorpion. Given their last chance, Kino and his wife, Juana, go pearl diving, and discover the “Pearl of the World”, which gives them hope and security, but while also giving them greed and danger. One of the many themes in this book are the struggle between good and evil. This struggle is shown by Kino looking into the pearl for the future, Kino’s “self-defense” killing rampage, and Juana’s chance to throw the pearl away.
In the beginning of the book, when Kino finds the “Pearl of the World”, Kino’s brother, Juan Tomas, asks Kino what he shall do with the pearl when he cashes it in. Kino gazes into the pearls and responds, “We will be married”(24). Kino then imagines him, Juana, and their infant son, Coyotito in …show more content…
Kino acts as if this pearl is his lifeline to a better place, which it could have been if Kino hadn’t let the wealth go to his head. One night, Kino wakes up from his sleep with the feeling that the pearl had been stolen, and he rushes out of the house to follow a figure that he had just seen. Out of self defence, Kino strikes down a man he is fighting with, and kills him. Later in the book, Kino, Juana and Coyotito are hiding in a cave up in the side of a mountain from the trackers who are hunting down Kino and his pearl. During the night, Kino slowly crawls out from his hiding place and became a “terrible machine now. He grasped the rifle even as he wrenched free his knife. His strength and his movement and his speed were a machine. He whirled and struck the head of the seated man like a melon.”(86-87). Kino then kills three more men out of protection for him and his family. The pearl has caused Kino the death of four men so far and has not given Kino any good outcomes of finding the pearl, only bad