The Pearl

This is a novel written by the great John Steinbeck (1902-1968). It tells the story of Kino, a pearl diver, who finds an enormous pearl. Since his little son was sick and he has no money to pay for the doctor he decides to use the money he obtains for selling the pearl. The problem is that the people around him, their own neighbors in the small village where he lives, become exceedingly greedy. One first obstacle they put is to agree in not paying a decent price for the valuable pearl, so Kino and his wife want to go to the capital to get the price they want. Still they find it nearly impossible because they are being chased by those who want to take the pearl from them. In despair, Kino defends himself and his family and after one attack his little son gets killed. Tired of all the bad luck the pearl had brought upon him, Kino, along his wife, go to the point in the sea where Kino found the pearl and returns it to the sea. 

It is obviously a story that explores the themes of ambition and greed. Kino is the tragic figure that aspires to get a better life and finds that society and all of a sudden finds a way to do so quickly but destiny capriciously seems to oppose to his desire. The ending evidences that the message of the story is that a man should not try to change his fate by unconventional means: soon after the pearl is in the seabed a huge crab comes and covers the pearl by moving the sand of the bottom.