Symbolism in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl Essay Example

Coyotito, which is Kinos greatest loss (McCarthy 108). Through these symbols which Kino represents, the reader can witness how many desires in life can lead to disaster.

Coyotito is a product of Kino. This ties him into the story as one of the main characters even though Steinbeck speaks of Coyotito few times in the novel. Steinbeck uses Coyotito as a symbol of unchanging innocence being betrayed by his own flesh and blood (Baechler 62). Steinbeck is keen to use such a symbol in a book titled The Pearl because Coyotitos innocense is parallel to the innocence of an actual pearl in the sense that a pearl is secure in its shell until something comes along and destroys the pearls home and blemish its beauty and simplicity. Again, Steinbeck uses a farely obvious symbol to illustrate one of lifes truths: Being good and innocent does not matter in this fierce world.

The certain "Pearl of the World"(Steinbeck 27) which Kino has stumbled upon is hard to grasp for " It is far to reasonable to be true"( Baechler 62). Steinbeck obviously beleives in citing the ideal scenario and then strive to become as far idealistic as possible. Actually, the tangible pearl exibits the irony of good fortune in that what should have been the possessionsof a lifetime for Kino and his family, turns out to be a disaster, producing much suffering, despair, and ending up with death as a seal (Baechler 62). The pearl also illustrates the maddness and the unique contet of life. The Pearl may be read as a parable in which people can take their own meaning as well as predicte their own ending

to the novel (French 126). The reader can see parable qualities of The Pearl by looking at the moral fiction of Kino or man in general, searching for the wealth, the security, and the freedom in life which is expressed in the novel (McCarthy 108). The moral fiction and its contants are found under the catagory of the books characteristics. The big characteristics of The Pearl are the appealing characters and the obvious allegory of man as a whole in relation to Kino and to his reaction (French 126).

Category: English