Kino, a young pearl diver in La Paz, enjoys his simple life until the day his son, Coyotito, is stung by a scorpion. The wealthy town doctor will not treat the baby because Kino cannot pay the doctor's fee, so Kino and his wife, Juana, are left only to hope their child is saved. That day Kino goes diving, and finds a great pearl, the Pearl of the World, and knows he is suddenly a wealthy man. The word travels quickly about the pearl and many in the town begin to plot ways to steal it.While the townspeople plot against Kino, he dreams of marrying Juana in a church, buying a rifle, and sending Coyotito to school so that he can learn to read. Kino believes that an education will free his son from the poverty and ignorance that have oppressed their people for more than four hundred years.The doctor comes to treat Coyotito once he learns of Kino's pearl, and although the baby is healed by Juana's remedy, the doctor takes advantage of Kino's ignorance. He convinces Kino that the child is still ill and will die without the care of a doctor. The doctor then manipulates Kino into unwittingly revealing where he has hidden the great pearl. Kino moves the pearl when the doctor leaves. That night, an intruder comes into Kino's hut and roots around near the spot where Kino had first buried the pearl.The next day, Kino tries to sell the pearl in town. The pearl buyers have already planned to convince Kino that the great pearl he has found is worth very little because it is too large. This way they can purchase the pearl for a low price. But when the buyers try to cheat Kino, he refuses to sell the pearl and plans to travel to another city to sell at a fair price. His brother, Tom Juan, feels Kino's plan is foolish because it defies his entire way of life and puts his family in danger. Kino is now on his own, although he doesn't know it yet.Juana warns Kino that the pearl is evil and will destroy his family, but he refuses to throw it away because it is his one chance to provide a different life for his family. That night, Juana takes the pearl and tries to throw it into the sea, but Kino stops her and beats her.
In the intervening period, Coyotito grows violentlyill, and Kino decides to bury the pearl under the floor in a cornerof the brush house. The doctor returns and feeds Coyotito a potionto quiet his spasms. When the doctor inquires about payment, Kinoexplains that soon he will sell his large pearl and inadvertentlyglances toward the corner where he has hidden the pearl. This mentionof the pearl greatly intrigues the doctor, and Kino is left withan uneasy feeling.
the pearl essay summary
In the middle of the night, Juana steals awaywith the pearl. Kino wakes as she leaves and pursues her, apprehendingher just as she is poised to throw the pearl into the sea. He tacklesher, takes the pearl back, and beats her violently, leaving herin a crumpled heap on the beach. As he returns to the brush house,a group of hostile men confronts him and tries to take the pearl fromhim. He fights the men off, killing one and causing the rest toflee, but drops the pearl in the process.
As Juana ascends from the shore to the brush house, shefinds the pearl lying in the path. Just beyond, she sees Kino onthe ground, next to the dead man. He bemoans the loss of the pearl,which she presents to him. Though Kino explains that he had no intentionto kill, Juana insists that he will be labeled a murderer. Theyresolve to flee at once. Kino rushes back to the shore to preparethe canoe, while Juana returns home to gather Coyotito and theirbelongings.
The next day, Kino and Juana make their way back through townand the outlying brush houses. Juana carries her dead son slungover her shoulder. They walk all the way to the sea, as onlookerswatch in silent fascination. At the shore, Kino pulls the pearlout of his clothing and takes one last, hard look at it. Then, withall his might, under a setting sun, he flings the pearl back intothe sea.
Kino, a poor pearl fisherman, lives with his wife Juana and their infant son Coyotito in La Paz, Baja California Sur. Kino sees a scorpion crawl down one of the ropes holding up the hanging box that serves as Coyotito's crib and tries to remove it. However, Coyotito shakes the rope, causing the scorpion to fall into the box and sting him. Kino and Juana visit the local doctor, but are turned away because of their poverty and his prejudices toward Amerindians.
As Juana applies a seaweed poultice to the sting, Kino dives for oysters from his canoe, hoping to find a pearl valuable enough to cover the treatment fee. One oyster yields an immense pearl, which he calls "The Pearl of the World"; news of its discovery spreads quickly, and some of the family's neighbors start to resent Kino's luck in finding it. Unaware of these reactions, Kino envisions selling the pearl and using the money to improve his family's lives. The doctor visits them to treat Coyotito, even though the baby seems to be recovering, and Kino promises to pay him after selling the pearl.
That night, Kino drives off a thief who attempts to break into his house. Juana warns him that the pearl will destroy the family, but Kino insists that it is their only chance for a better life. He goes to sell it the next day, not knowing that all the pearl dealers in La Paz are working for a single buyer and conspiring to keep prices low. Pretending that Kino's pearl is of poor quality, they make offers of 1,500 pesos at most; he angrily rejects them, believing the pearl to be worth 50,000 pesos, and vows to sell it in the capital instead.
More thieves attack him that night, but he remains resolved to make the journey despite Juana's warning that the pearl is evil and her suggestions to get rid of it. After he forcibly stops her from throwing it into the ocean, he is attacked again; Kino kills one man in self-defense, and he and Juana hurriedly flee with Coyotito to avoid any reprisals. Discovering that Kino's canoe has been damaged and their house looted and burned in search of the pearl, the family takes refuge with Kino's brother and his wife before setting out for the capital the following night.
As they travel, Kino spots a trio of men following them and Juana realizes that their intent is to take the pearl and kill the entire family. Leaving the road they have been using, Kino leads Juana into the mountains in order to leave fewer signs of their passage. They take shelter in a cave, only for the trackers to make camp by a pool of water below them. As Kino sneaks down to ambush the trio, one of them hears a cry and fires his rifle in its direction, thinking it to be a coyote pup. Kino attacks and kills all three men, then discovers that the shot has killed Coyotito.
Kino and Juana return to La Paz with their son's body. After looking at the pearl one last time and seeing its surface reflect images of all the disasters that have befallen him, Kino throws it into the ocean.
Kino is a hard-working pearl-diver and the protagonist of the novella. He has a wife, Juana, and a son, Coyotito. He is content with his lifestyle as a diver and possesses nothing of value until he discovers the pearl. After finding the pearl, Kino gradually changes to become a completely different man. Though his family is still the center of his actions, he is also driven by his dreams of an escape from their poverty and a desire to give his son a better future. He quickly becomes obsessed with the material things that the pearl could bring. He is no longer content with his son being uneducated, or his family not being well-dressed. Instead of enjoying his family and their company, as he did in the beginning, he becomes discontent and always seeks more.[10] He is also driven by his desire not to be cheated or slighted. Kino is named for the missionary Eusebio Kino.[11]
The Doctor, unnamed in the novella, is a symbol of wealth, greed and exploitation. He is repulsive, fat, and also foreign-born, a native of France. Before the pearl is found, he refuses to heal Coyotito because the family is poor, though it would be easy for him to do so. After Kino finds the pearl, he personally visits the family at home, acting much friendlier than at their first meeting and even pretending to heal Coyotito's scorpion sting with ammonia. During the doctor's visit, he tries to determine from Kino's glances where in the house the pearl may be hidden, though Kino is too suspicious to reveal anything. The doctor's behavioral changes foreshadow the more serious troubles that begin after Kino's discovery of the pearl.
The pearl dealers, like the doctor, symbolize the exploitation of the native population, this time by the organized pearl-dealing cartel for which the dealers work. When Kino tries to sell the pearl, the pearl dealers claim that the pearl's size makes it worthless and offer Kino a fraction of the pearl's true worth. Kino's outrage at their barehanded lies cause him to brave the dangerous trip to the capital and seek a better price. [12]
The thieves and trackers are shadowy figures who attack Kino from the first night he has the pearl. Kino never recognizes who they are. They harass and then follow the family right to the end of the story. They force Kino to fight and kill to defend himself and his family and keep the pearl his own. In the final scenes, in which Kino is tracked by a posse, it is not clear in the text whether the group are thieves or law enforcement officers hunting Kino for his killing of the man on the beach.
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After that they are visited by a priest who blesses them and then by the doctor who claims that Coyotito is only getting better before he gets worse. He administers a drug to help him and then leaves, the next day Coyotito has stomach spasms and his state deteriorates. The doctor comes and cures Coyotito and Kino promises to pay him after he sells the pearl. The doctor pretends he does not know of the pearl but looks around to see if he can determine where it might be. 2ff7e9595c
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