Symbolism in The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Uploaded by JayJay (969) on Dec 22, 2004 |
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Symbolism in The Pearl by John Steinbeck
In John Steinbeck's novel The Pearl, a young couple and their baby's peaceful lives are dramatically changed after the discovery of a pearl of great value. The couple begins to dream of the great wealth and the benefits that their family will gain. However, evil lurked, and their lives are shattered by "something infinitely black and evil" in the town, which are symbolized by some type of matters. Certain types of objects symbolized for specific message; for instance, the color red mean love. Therefore, in the novel, symbolism is evident in the characters, colors, and animals and objects.
In the novel The Pearl, characters represented elements, which made the tome a tragic story. Coyotito, the infant son of Kino, the pearl diver, and Juana, the devoted wife, is the character that showed nature in its most undeveloped form. In the struggle between nature and civilization and between good and evil, Coyotito became the innocent victim of powers greater than himself. In addition, Coyotito is the hope for his father, Kino, to live a life of a white man with education and to never be deceived. In the savage wilderness where Kino and Juana found themselves, Coyotito served as their one reminder of society and civilization. Kino is the character that represented the bond between animalistic and humanity. The Doctor, a physician who poisoned Coyotito, symbolized greed when he swindled Kino by making his son terribly ill for money. In addition, the entire characters in the novel symbolized for some type of elements; however, colors represented significance as well.
There are a plethora of colors that symbolized certain types of elements. The color black represented evil, death, and sorrow because during the raven night, a nefarious black scorpion, which brought horror Kino's family, stung Coyotito. Yellow symbolized sickness and weakness on account of when Coyotito was sung and gained a yellow bump on his arm. White illustrated innocent and hopes; however, white represented destruction because in every white spot there is darkness lurking around. In addition, the colors in the novel symbolized for some type of elements; however, animals and objects represented significance as well.
Objects and animals symbolized elements of the disastrous book as well as characters and colors. The pearl presented itself as hope and wealth; however, the pearl represented destruction. The pearl only brought chaos to the Kino's family by bringing death upon his child. Furthermore, the pearl made Kino to lose his home, canoe, and nearly his humanity. Kino's home showed his wife, Juana, that he could support her by having a roof over her head. The canoe represented Kino's heritage by being pass down from generation to generation. The scorpion was the sinister that caused Kino to look for the pearl to cure his child. The goat with the yellow spots symbolized the devil, because the devil had hooves and usually the devil is in the form of a goat. The gun represented the savage in a human because Kino became inhumane when he posed the rifle in the mountains. Therefore objects and animals could represent elements of a tragic story.
In the novel The Pearl, it contained a great amount of symbolism, which is hidden in the tome's characters, colors, animals, and objects. However, the novel showed that evil could lurk out in the purist item like the pearl. |
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