Steinbeck's ninety-page novella from 1947 is a fable about the evils of capitalism. Kino the dirt-poor pearl-diver finds the biggest, most beautiful pearl in the world. He should be set for life but in fact has only days to live. He cannot sell the pearl in the village where he lives because all the so-called independent pearl buyers are in fact agents for the one buyer. They operate a cartel which goes through a sham bidding process which results in one take-it-or-leave-it offer of less than 5% of the pearl's true worth. Kino might be poor but he's not stupid. He knows he can do better - he knows his wife and baby son deserve better. While he mulls over the situation, attempts are made to steal the pearl from his hut. Kino is attacked - he strikes back with his knife. Suddenly the safe haven of brush huts where his family has lived fior generations is no longer safe. Kino knows he must go to the city to sell his pearl. His wife Juana doesn't want to go. She is fearful of the change that has come over Kino, his dark obsession with the pearl. For Juana the pearl embodies unwanted change and loss. She wants to throw it back into the sea. She tries it one night - Kino catches her and beats her.
Steinbeck's world-view might be simplistic, dwelling on the ancient simplicity - the songs that succour the pearl-diving community - rather than the grinding poverty that diminishes their humanity, but that is the purpose of fables. The writing is unbelievably beautiful, the perfection of the prose mirroring the beauty of the pearl itself. They should use this in school as a teaching aid. They should certainly have it on every Humanities reading list to remind scholars that text doesn't have to be prolix to be effective.
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