Always Wanting What is Not (Reaction #7)

                        

After being discovered Mexico was colonized by the British and the Spaniards during the colonial era. Pearls became a currency for the people, men would go out in their boats and dive down into the water in search of clams that held the perfect pearl.  “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck tells a story of a young family, just beginning with next to nothing, besides a little hut to live in. After finding a perfect pearl the whole village hears of it. Although it seems like it will give the family a perfect life, it just turns everything bad. Evil consumes the family that only wanted more and more, until finally they realize the pearl is nothing but a curse.

In the novel Steinbeck makes a point of personifying the town that the protagonist live in. “A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet,” I appreciated this. It made the town feel whole, like they were all one person and they all cared about each other. It seems that this doesn’t really happen anymore, I barely know the people down the block, let alone my whole town. The whole town supported Kino when he went to sell his Pearl, and they all grieved for him when they thought he was dead. They were all in the same boat, their land was being taken over by colonizers and people that were cheating them of their money and they only had each other. Ones happiness was everyone's happiness, and ones sorrow was everyone's sorrow.

Since the whole town knew about Kinos newest fortune, they worried about him, none of them wanted his riches to go to his head. There was a lot of foreshadowing,  the readers know that Kino would turn crazy with power from his new found fortune, he believed everyone was out to get him and his pearl, he trusted no one. They had to run away from the town, the one thing that had supported his family for his whole life, because of a Pearl that he wouldn't get rid of.  In the end the one thing that he believed would make his life so much better, actually made it a nightmare.

The novel reminds its readers that always wanting more is not always a good thing. When you have too much you are punished. It reminded me of a poem that I used for poem in a pocket day in elementary school. It went like this:

As a rule man is a fool,

When its hot, he wants it cool.

When its cool. he wants it hot.

Always wanting what is not.

The poem tells its readers that mankind is never happy with what they have, although they think they might want something, once they have it they want something else.  Once they had found the amazing pearl they thought of what they would do with it. Kino wanted to sell it for 50 thousand pesos, he wanted to be able to actually marry his wife, afford clothing for his child, and a good education for him. Its sad that in the end they get none of this, but the whole message was that they should yearn for more and more.

    Steinbeck created this novel to teach his readers a lesson, be happy with what you have,  and don't be greedy. The one thing I would have changed about the novel is how in the end they lose the one thing that mattered most to both Kino and Juana, and it wasn’t the pearl. If only they had gotten rid of the Pearl Sooner, Juana knew it would cause nothing but trouble to the family, she was trying to avoid the death of her precious.