Kinos Lust for Money in The Pearl by John Stienbeck :: essays research papers

Kino's Lust for Money in The Pearl by John Stienbeck In the novel The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck, Kino is a poor, hardworking man who dives for pearls as a living. Kino?s lover, Juana, fathered his baby boy, Coyotito. One day while fishing, Kino finds a giant pearl referred to in the story as ?The Pearl of the World?. He thinks it will bring him great wealth and status. Kino planned to marry Juana in a church and send Coyotito to school with the enormous profit he would gain from the pearl. While trying to sell the pearl, Kino?s greed and lust for money turned out to cause the destruction of his family. One of the ways we can see Kino?s lust for money was after he found the pearl and took it to get an appraisal. When the dealer offered a fraction of the pearl?s real value, Kino became angry thinking that they were trying to swindle him. Instead of taking the money offered by the dealer, which was a considerable amount to a man of Kino?s status, Kino rejected the offer. Each step to find a buyer brought more trouble and danger. When Kino was leaving to go to the capital to get his pearl appraised, he was attacked by thieves and was forced to kill them out of self-defense. He lost the pearl in the struggle, but his wife, Juana, found it again. Even though it was evident that the pearl was causing evil, instead of throwing the pearl back from where it came, his greed drove him to continue his journey to the capital to sell it. Now that Kino had killed a man, he believed he was being followed by a group of trackers sent to bring him back to La Paz. Kino?s greed scared him to believe that the trackers wanted the pearl for their own and he would be forced to murder them. As Kino, Juana, and Coyotito began their journey up the mountain, the trackers were getting closer and closer. Finally, Kino decided he must do something to get rid of the trackers. After leaving Juana and Coyotito in a cave, he crept to the trackers? campsite and waited. While waiting, he observed that only one of the trackers had a gun. He made a mental note to attack that man first so that he might obtain the gun.