The Pearl: Reflections

 Reflections on The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Kino and Juana suffer through the paradox throughout their story, and it directly relates to their experiences.

           This paradox essentially describes the journey that Kino and Juana undertake, and how they may start out with good intentions of using the pearl to bring their people out of poverty, and to save their child. Yet the city became corrupted by the pearl, in a sense. Evil comes out of this good, the city is desperate to attain this incredible object. Eventually, Kino is forced to murder over this pearl and leaves the town in search of what he desires; disregarding what Juana was begging him to do – get rid of the pearl.

           Unfortunately, in the end, they find that despite their dreaming of what could be; being freed from their live of poverty and living a better life, the reality is a disappointment and not the expectations they had when they first found the pearl.

           Thus in conclusion, the paradox is that they had their hopes of great things to come from the pearl they found, yet in the end it was not what they had expected.

           As a result, I feel that they have learned to live with the paradox – a resignation that their dreams of breaking free couldn’t be. It is shown because they had found the magnificent pearl, and yet were still unable to break from the paradox.  They have learned to be happy with the life that they have, as attempting to break from it doesn’t end well.

           The Connection:

           I feel that the connection between this is directly related to Kino’s life, as he is the one to take action.

           His action of gathering the pearl and then attempting to sell it to save his son’s life truly displays the act of selflessness that he did. He tried to get what he needed, and was denied this by the city. The city is the prevailing vice, as it works against Kino selfishly, because it desires the pearl for itself. He continues to display virtue by wanting to free his people from the prison-like society that they are stuck in, and not by giving to himself, but by making his son’s life better. He risked everything for the true freedom, of him and his people. That is the way that true virtue is displayed.