Quotes

With the legend-like narration and its assertive moral standing, it is easy to find noteworthy quotes in ‘The Pearl‘ by John Steinbeck. Here are some best quotes on several themes from the book.

Greed

It was the rifle that broke down the barriers . . . For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more.

Chapter 3

This quote is the narrator’s commentary on the way in which the discovery of the pearl compromised Kino’s initial contentment with his simple life, suddenly making him desire more.

In thinking about the possible range of things that he could buy with the money he would generate from selling the pearl, Kino had equally thought of a rifle. A rifle is ordinarily a piece of property totally out of his bounds. Indeed it could never have occurred to him that such a thing is desirable and worthy of his possession, but with the pearl came the hunger to possess the oppressive power of the rifle.

The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it

Chapter 3

This quote is a powerful imagery of the malevolent influence that the pearl unleashes on the entire community when they learn that Kino had found one. Every single one of them begins to feel some sort of entitlement to the pearl and the benefits that may accrue from it. This breeds greed, and then murderous jealousy.

As it were, the sacs ultimately swell and puff with pressure beyond their elastic limit and burst on Kino almost fatally. Aside from the several physical assaults he endures, his canoe gets holed out, his house is set on fire, and his son gets killed. The murderous intensity of the envy which overtook everyone, some of whom initially seemed quite happy for Kino, calls into question the sincerity of their coming together to celebrate his fortune with him.

It is probably a measure of the fickleness of human feeling. The one moment they are celebrating with him, the next they are trying to rip him off of the very fortune they claim to be happy that he had found.

The news came early to the beggars in front of the church, and it made them giggle a little with pleasure, for they knew that there is no alms giver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky

Chapter 3

This is another demonstration of the greed of the people in the town. The beggars were already envisaging how they will also benefit from Kino’s pearl and delighting in the thought even though they are neither Kino’s kin nor in any way his responsibility.

The quote also suggests that wealth acquired suddenly without preparation is spent with extravagance and may be squandered completely on frivolities like faux charity without anything tangible to show for it in the owner’s life.

Ambition

My son will read and open the books, and my son will write and will know writing. And my son will make numbers, and these things will make us free because he will know – he will know and through him we will know

Chapter 3

Before the pearl, Kino’s concerns had been limited to supplying his family’s most basic essential needs and seeing to it that they are protected. But now, he thinks of many more possibilities, and it manures the latent ambition in him, rendering him almost relentless in the pursuit of his new desires.

Tired of feeling trapped in his ignorance of the civilization of the invaders, Kino decides that with the money from the pearl, he could put an end to that ignorance by sending his son to school to acquire the knowledge that had eluded him and his people. He sets his mind to it, and not even his wife’s plea to get rid of the pearl for its destructive tendencies, or the series of assaults he suffers at the hands of invaders and thieves would deter him from getting on.

Kino looked down at her and his teeth were bared. He hissed at her like a snake, and Juana stared at him with wide unfrightened eyes, like a sheep before the butcher.

Chapter 5

This quotation illustrates the evil side of ambition. It is a description of how Kino had been reduced to a primitive state of being when he finds his wife trying to get rid of the pearl against his will.

He has suddenly placed supreme value on the pearl, subverting everything else even his family to it. Whereas only a while ago we see that his family is the most precious thing to him. This is also the first instance ever of his physically abusing his wife, something that probably would never ordinarily have crossed his mind. So in one stroke, he has switched from protector to terrorizer of his own family.

It is a moment of intense irony in which, all of a sudden, he comes to share an identical trait with say the doctor or the pearl dealers as predators whose relationship with him is purely based on how much they can exploit him. Now he is relating to his wife in the same way. Her worth to him is now a matter of whether she is going along with his placement of premium value on the pearl or not. If not, she is just another sheep that may be butchered at the altar of the sacrosanct pearl, just as the doctor had been quite ready to sacrifice Coyotito so long as his treating him will not fetch the doctor any material benefit.

Gender

He had said ‘I am a man’ and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half god. It meant that he would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana in her woman’s soul knew that the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it.

Chapter Five

This quote is another instance of irony in the story of ‘The Pearl‘. Kino was asserting his authority over Juana with the fact of him being a man. Juana understood that by the conventions on gender in their society, she was meant to submit to his authority at all times. However, Juana knew that this ‘manness’ did not necessarily translate to rationality and the wisdom to choose battles in which he stood a chance at victory. The irony of the situation is that Juana was wiser and more calculative in making decisions and taking actions, but must bow to the rashness of the irrational Kino, who was likely to lead them into a losing battle.

Of course, this aspect of the irony of the situation is lost on Kino. If it wasn’t, he would not – indeed could not – have proceeded in the way he did up to this point. This means that this irony is structurally relevant to the flow of the story. At any rate, there is a sense in which what Kino had been caught up in is a web of tragedy, such that the sort of insight that an awareness of the irony would generally afford Juana is not available to Kino till the point of consummate disaster. And after the disaster, Kino eventually bows to Juana’s reasoning when he agrees that they get rid of the pearl.

Fate

Kino knew this also – that the gods do not love men’s plans, and the gods do not love success unless it comes by accident. He knew that the gods take their revenge on a man if he is successful through his own efforts

Chapter 2

This is a demonstration of how the character’s belief in the supernatural gives them a fatalistic disposition to life. They believe that they can only enjoy success if it is supernaturally bestowed on them by the benevolence of the gods. The belief further teaches them that even when a man manages to succeed from his own efforts, it upsets the gods and makes them vengeful of the man for succeeding without their permission.

This is one of the beliefs that keep Kino and his people content with their material lack. The priest also uses similar teachings to exploit the people by preaching to them that God punishes people who try to rise above their original station in life.

Reality and Illusion

Thus it might be that the people of the Gulf trust things of the spirit and things of the imagination, but they do not trust their eyes to show them distance or clear outline or any optical exactness.

Chapter 2

This quote demonstrates the proclivity of the people of the Gulf to trust illusory things above substantial things. They wholeheartedly believed in the existence of gods and spirits and luck but would sit by the seaside, look out at the sea, and still doubt that the sea is there beside them.

Their skepticism in believing the things that they can see sharply contrasts with their propensity to believe in spirits and supernatural elements that they cannot see.

The minds of people are as unsubstantial as the mirage of the Gulf

Chapter 2

This simile illustrates how unreliable the mind can be in analyzing facts holistically and making sound judgments. Coyotito had been stung by a scorpion and the doctor refused to treat him because they could not afford to pay him. The quote refers to Juana’s folly in praying that they find a pearl to be able to pay the doctor to treat Coyotito instead of directly praying for Coyotito’s healing.

There was no certainty in seeing, no proof that what you saw was there or was not there

Chapter 2

This quote asserts that the sense of sight cannot be trusted to make the right distinction between reality and illusion. It buttresses the Gulf people’s distrust of the things they can see as opposed to the things they can imagine.

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