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The Pearl by John Steinbeck

 THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS 

"There is no almsgiver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky"

And after reading The Pearl I have finally finished "The Short Novels of John Steinbeck" and boy was it good. It was an amazing ride and I discovered a lot more about my favorite American writer. The Pearl's set on the typical Steinbeck scenario and this time he focuses greatly in the small descriptions that build the nuances of the town this story is set in. I could almost smell the bay and the slanting waves of the coast. I could almost feel the whole town watching me as I'm exposed as a whole and I could almost feel my dread falling from myself as the pearl was being described. The pearl is stated as a paradise towards comfort and it falls terribly in the wrong hands (or did it?) thus condemning Kino and Juana to inevitable tragedy. It arrives at first as a benefactor that distributes happiness, hope and specially wealth. As the novel develops we see the mask that covers the wretchedness of the pearl fall off slightly, and by the novel's requiem John Steinbeck exposes tragedy and evil in its utmost form.

The discovery and unmasking of the devil has to be quick whilst being justified by our own judgement. One's own judgement is driven by the unconscious, sustained by instincts and natural desires. The poor man subjected all his life to living in a pigsty is inevitably near the temptation of these torments and takes them without thinking twice on the justification of assuring a wonderful life for himself. Kino wanted for Coyotito to study and "free them from the pot that holds them in". Naturally, a father provides from his own son and when the opportunity turns itself in, he is able to endanger everything, even his own destiny. The mind goes twisted, naïve and focused; escaping reality. One suddenly forgets the circumstances that brought oneself towards this moment in life, as a way of distorting reality while deviating from the original goal. The chariot speeds towards the forest, ignoring everything on its path, destroying everything on its path until it reaches the end where the way ceases to exist. One can pull the chariots towards fire or water, both appealing but mutually exclusive. The flames of mayhem roar in the conceivable space and receive the existential dread of the weak man. He burns until he is no more. He could've taken the other way towards the mass of infinite water independently of whether he knows how to swim or not because after all, one must learn. It would be difficult but not impossible and definitely better than burning until every single cell of your body is evaporated into nothingness.

(Spoiler) The baby ends up dying and the sole purpose of embracing the pearl is now gone. Kino and Juana embarked on a road that led them to where they started and while walking the road they lost what was most precious to them. The only thing for them to do is to face the devil that condemned them to tragedy and to accept their wrong path. Burning implies leaving ember behind that can be repurposed. Finding a new purpose and learning our lesson is what Steinbeck tries and successfully accomplishes in his novel. We're hit hard with tragedy but it is our responsibility to stand back up with a lesson within our reach: greed is a silent killer.

"The people say that the two seemed to be removed from human experience; that they had gone through pain and had come out on the other side; that there was almost a magical protection about them."

To top it off, in the first paragraph I asked you and myself: or did it? That question is to be considered as a universal whole because Steinbeck is a master of universality. The pearl fell into the wrong hands but anyone in possession of two good fingers to hold a pearl between them would've been condemned to the same fate as our fatal protagonists. 


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