The Pearl

Imagine walking on hot, white sand with cool salt water splashing on your bare feet. Up ahead is the small village where your home is located. As you continue to walk forward on the unending desert black spots appear on the horizon. While you draw nearer the spots grow larger and take the shape of small, straw huts, you’re home. In “The Pearl” you are shown many things but the most important of these is greed is terrible personal flaw.
Stories take many different forms and no two are alike. “The Pearl” takes place in Mexico right next to an ocean; this seen reminds me of a hot, summer day next to Lake Michigan on the beach. Kino, the main character, is a very poor pearl diver but he always manages to find pearls, so that he sell them to the pearl buyers, and provide for Juana, his wife, and Coyoto, his son. The pearl buyers, the doctor, and the priest are all in the high class of living. People in the high class tend to have avarice or greed for riches while the low class is indigent or lacking food, clothing, and other necessities such as shelter and money.
Out of all the modes of literature “The Pearl” follows tragedy the closest. At the start of the story the world is in conflict for Kino. Then Kino rises to power when he finds a pearl the size of a gull’s egg. Now he should have a tragic fall and finally a death or symbol of death should occur, but they both happen at the same time when Kino kills three people and Coyoto gets shot in the head since Kino had greed wouldn’t follow his common sense and through the pearl away . All tragedy stories teach a moral lesson, this story’s moral lesson is; be content with what you have and greed is a very heavy burden since you always want more and never want to give away power.
Although modes of literature and what occurs in a story are important, they would be useless without the reader’s opinion. As I read “The Pearl” I wondered “where have I seen this mode of literature before.” Then as I continued to read the answer came to me, “Third Wish” has the same mode of literature since the world is in conflict for the man, then he rises to power when he gets the wishes, finally he dies at the end. Juana and Kino’s pain from losing their child I can relate to since my cat Calvin died and the pain from that was unbearable. I don’t know how to relate to their poverty since my family is in the middle class, except the greed Kino felt is understandable because he just wanted everything at once, just like me and the rest of the “now” generation want everything at once.
Even though many people have avarice, many more people are poverty stricken and need basic necessities. Next time that greed, want, or an option to rise to power steps in your path try to give all of your options a second thought or risk loosing yourself.