Destructive Materialism in The Pearl :: essays research papers

In The Pearl, the author, John Steinbeck, uses the pearl to express what human nature is. Kino, a poor pearl fisher, finds the ?pearl of the world? and imagines all the things he will buy after he has sold the pearl. At the beginning of the novel, the pearl that Kino finds is described as being large, incandescent and as "perfect as the moon", by the end of the novel, Kino looks at the pearl and it is "ugly, gray, like a malignant growth." In general, mankinds are greedy, deceptive and evil. In the novel, Steinbeck tries to spread the message that materialism destroys people. In the novel, The Pearl, John Steinbeck does an excellent job portraying how materialism destroys people. Juana says to Kino ?This pearl is evil. This pearl is like a sin. It will destroy us all!?(38). Even though Juana warns Kino that the pearl will bring misfortunes to the family and advises him to throw the pearl away, Kino neither takes the advice nor listens to what his wife says because Kino's mind is already overtaken by his dreams. Kino puts the pearl before his family and even if his wife takes it, he attacks her to reclaim it. ?He [strikes] her in the face and she [falls] among the boulders, and he [kicks] her in the side...He [hisses] at her like a snake and she [stares] at him with wide unfrightened eyes, like a sheep before a butcher? (59). Kino hits his wife and becomes more evil after he has found the pearl. Also, Kino has lost his humanity and becomes like an animal. He will not consider his family anymore like he used to because he has turned evil and he is overtake n by his dreams. Steinbeck uses the scene where people burn down Kino's house to show humans do evil acts to harm someone. Since the pearl dealers cannot think of a way that can deceive Kino, they burn down his house in revenge, which makes Kino's family become homeless.