Another The Pearl

The Curse of the

Oyster In The Pearl, by John Steinbech, evil transforms

certain humble citizens into envious savages. Evil was

exhibited by the doctor who refused to treat Coyotito

because his parents had no money. When the doctor heard

of Kino and Juana’s fortune in finding "the pearl of the

world" (722), he boasted that they were patients of his while

thinking of a better life for himself in Paris. Coyotito was

healed when the doctor finally came to their straw hut. He

deceived Kino by giving the baby a white powder that made

him go into convulsions. An hour later he came and gave

Coyotito the remedy and immediately wanted to know when

he was getting paid. The evil in the pearl had reached the

heart of the doctor. The pearl’s evil did not restrict itself to

infecting Kino’s peers; it also affected Kino himself. He

wanted to sell the pearl and use the money to better his

family’s standard of living. He had dreams and goals that all

depended on the pearl. When Juana wanted to destroy the

pearl, Kino beat her unmercifully: He struck her in the face

and she fell among the boulders, and he kicked her in the

side…He hissed at her like a snake and she stared at him

with wide unfrightened eyes, like a sheep before a butcher.

(742) Juana saw through the outer beauty of the pearl and

knew it would destroy them, but Kino’s vision was blurred

by the possible prosperity the pearl brought. The malignant

evil then spread to a secret cult known only as the trackers.

This corrupt band of ruffians attacked and destroyed Kino’s

life. The very night that the trackers learned of Kino’s pearl,

they tried to steal it. The next night, Kino was attacked

twice, which resulted in Kino committing murder. After the

final struggle of the night, Juana went back to their home to

find more baneful members of the heartless cult rampaging

through their belongings to find the pearl. The end result was

Kino and Juana’s house going up in flames. The trackers

then committed the cardinal sin, they destroyed Kino’s

canoe: This was an evil beyond thinking. The killing of a man

was not so evil as the killing of a boat. For a boat does not

have sons, and a boat cannot protect itself, and a wounded

boat does not heal. (744) The trackers annihilated the most

important material possession that any citizen of the

community owned, "…for a man with a boat can guarantee a

woman that she will eat something. It was the bulwark

against starvation" (717). The evil invaded Kino’s life and

everyone who knew of it.