Greed in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck

In “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck there are many characters that show out to be greedy after Kino got the pearl. For example: the priest, the doctor and Kino. The priest turns out to be greedy when Kino gets the pearl. When the news came to Him he started to wonder whether he had baptized Coyotito and if he married Kino and Juana, he also started to think how much the pearl was worth, and what repairs where necessary to the church. The doctor also turns out to be greedy after the news that Kino got the pearl. At first When Kino was poor, he didn’t want to see Kino’s baby, Coyotito, who was bitten by a scorpion, but after when Kino got rich he went to Kino’s brush house, but Juana, the baby’s mother, had made a flat damp poultice and applied on the baby’s shoulder which made the poison recede from its body, but Kino and Juana were not sure if the baby was completely cured. When the doctor examined Coyotito, he said that the poison was inside the baby’s body still, and that Coyotito could die anytime soon.

The doctor was lying all he wanted was money, and that was an easy way to get it. When Kino found the pearl, everything changed, at the beginning when he looked at the pearl, all he could see in it were his dreams coming true, but after some time passed , when Kino looked at the pearl all he could see in it was evil. Kino was also turning out to be greedy and evil, an example of that was when he kicked her on the side after she tried to throw the pearl in the sea, another example was when he killed a man who tried to steal the pearl from him. “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck is a story which contains great examples of greed. There are three characters in the story who turn out to be greedy after the main character, Kino finds “the pearl of the world”, the priest, the doctor and Kino. But as the story develops more characters who play less important roles in the story also turn out to be greedy over Kino’s treasure.

Bibliography:

Literature Textbook: Prentice Hall Literature