Ever since Midas' lust for gold, it
appears to be that man has
acquired a greed
and appetite for wealth. Juana, the
Priest, and
the doctor have
all undergone a change due to money.
They are
all affected by
their hunger for wealth and inturn are the base for
their own
destruction, and the destruction of society.
Steinbeck's
"The
Pearl" is a study of man's self destruction through greed.
Juana, the faithful wife of Kino, a paltry
peasant man, had
lived a spiritual
life for what had seemed like as long as she
could
remember. When her son Coyito fell ill
from the bite of a
scorpion, she
eagerly turned towards the spiritual aspects of life.
Beginning to pray
for her son's endangered life. The
doctor who
had resided in
the upper-class section of the town, refused to
assistant the
child, turning them away when they arrived at the
door. Lastly they turned to the sea to seek their
fortune. When
Juana set sight on the "Pearl of The
World." she felt as though
all her prayers
had been answered, if she could have foreseen the
future what she
would have seen would have been a mirror image of
her reality. Juana's husband was caught in a twisted realm
of
mirrors, and they
were all shattering one by one. In the
night he
heard a
"sound so soft that it might have been simply a
thought..."
and quickly attacked the trespasser.
This is where
the problems for
Juana and her family began. The fear
that had
mounted in Kino's
body had taken control over his actions.
Soon
even Juana who
had always had faith in her husband, had doubted him
greatly. "It will destroy us all" she yelled
as her attempt to
rid the family of
the pearl had failed. Kino had not
listened
however, and soon
Juana began to lose her spiritual side and for a
long time she had
forgotten her prayers that had at once meant so
much to her. She had tried to help Kino before to much
trouble had
aroused, only to
discover that she was not competent enough to
help.
A hypocrathic oath is said before each
medical student is
granted a Doctors
degree. In the oath they swear to aid
the ill,
and cure the
injured. In the village of La Paz there
lived a
doctor who had
earned his wealth by helping those that were ill and
could afford his
services. Not once in his long career
would he
have dared refuse
to aid a wealthy lawyer or noblemen.
However
when Kino and the
group of money hungry peasants arrived at his
door with a
poisoned child he had refused them entry saying "Have
I nothing better
to do than cure insect bites for `little Indians'?
I am a doctor,
not a veterinary." for the doctor had known that
the peasants
hadn't any money. He had been to Paris
and had
enjoyed the
splendors of the world, and therefore he wouldn't be
seen dealing with
the less fortunate as he knew that the less
fortunate would
surely always be just that-less fortunate.
However
it seemed that he
had been stereotypical of the less fortunate, as
he soon
discovered when hearing of a great pearl discovered by the
peasants who had
knocked upon his door earlier that day.
A hunger
for wealth was
what pushed him to visit the peasants house and aid
their destitute
son. However he had already ended
Coyito's life
without knowing
he'd done so, for if he had administered aid to
Coyito when they
were first at the doctors door, Kino would have no
reason to seek
his fortune in the ocean, and would not be led down
the road to
hardships. One might think that a
doctor, one who has
the image of
being passive, and caring should not stoop to such a
level.
When one is down on their luck, chances
are they will turn to
superstition in
hope to acquire what it is that they would want to
achieve. A good example of this would be a good luck
charm such as
a rabbit's
foot. In La Paz the peasants were
uneducated and
probably had
never heard of a superstition. The
peasants only
reliability,
there only scapegoat was God. God had
always been
their to aid them
in there times of need. The first
reaction of
Juana when seeing
the scorpion is a good example of spirituality,
rather than
attempt to kill the scorpion she began to pray to God
for safety.
In La Paz the only form of God that the
peasants knew was that
of the Priest of
the church. To the peasants the Priest
was so
God-like that
they were unable to see any faults in his actions.
However the
reader is able to determine that the Priest is abusing
his position in
society. In order to receive the
sacraments the
person requesting
the sacrament must "donate" a small amount of
money to the
church. Whether this is correct or not
is a matter of
opinion. The church definetly needs funding but the
peasants are
unable to donate
these funds, but, does that make them unable to
receive the
sacraments should they want to acquire them?
The
Priest is so set
on achieving money and social status that he puts
aside the real
reason one becomes a Priest- to help, and teach the
word of God.
In "The Pearl", Steinbeck
expresses the fact that man's
manifestation for
wealth and property leads to the self destruction
of man, both
mentally, and physically. The Priest of
La Paz, The
doctor, and Juana
were all affected by the affects of greed.
Whether they are
striving for wealth or are in the path of those
that are, they
are all equally affected. The story of
Midas lives
on as a caution
to those who crave the warmth and comfort of money.
Beckoning to
those who struggle to achieve wealth, and hoping that
they will
respond, and possibly not put wealth on the top shelf of
life.
Submitted to Mrs.
Toth
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