Summary

‘The Pearl‘ by John Steinbeck is a tragic story of exploitation and the interplay of fate and man’s will to defy the odds against him. It tells the story of how the main character Kino was broken beyond repair as he finds a precious pearl and tries to use it to fight the order of things that were pitched against him and people like him.

The Pearl ‘Spoiler-Free’ Summary

Kino’s tranquil morning with his wife Juana and son Coyotito is disrupted when a scorpion stings Coyotito. After a quick first aid by Juana, they decide to take Coyotito to the doctor for treatment, but the snobbish doctor refuses to treat Coyotito because Kino cannot afford to pay him. Juana treats Coyotito’s wound with seaweed but, in desperation, prays that they find a pearl so that they can afford to pay the doctor to treat Coyotito.

Kino does find a precious pearl in his next venture. But the pearl, instead of bringing the hoped-for fortune it might have ordinarily symbolized, becomes the source of tribulation to their family. He becomes the object of communal jealousy and homicidal conspiracy. His wife, Juana, tells him to discard the pearl altogether, but he does not listen. Alas, Kino loses something much more precious than the pearl in the ensuing events and heeds his wife’s advice when it is already too late.

Complete Plot Summary of The Pearl

Warning – This article contains important details and spoilers

Chapter 1

Around the year 1900, a Mexican-Indian pearl fisherman by the name of Kino is rousing from sleep to the crowing of roosters. He observes the dawn creeping into his house through a crack in the door. Then he observes in his cradle his infant sleeping son Coyotito and finally turns to observe his wife Juana, who happens to be awake already as her eyes are open. Juana rises, checks on her son, and begins to make a fire. Kino rises too, steps outside, and observes a bunch of working ants ‘with the detachment of God’. Then he hears his wife singing to and mollifying their son.

The rest of the neighbourhood begins to come alive also. He steps back into the house and shares a simple breakfast with his family. Then a ray of light beams on Coyotito’s hanging box, revealing a scorpion crawling toward the child. The mother recites a prayer while the father makes a move to capture the menacing creature. But the child notices the scorpion, giggles innocently, and reaches out to grab it, to his father’s astonishment. The child shakes the rope of the hanging box before Kino can get to it, and the scorpion drops on the child’s shoulder, giving him an awful sting. Kino gets a hurried hold of the creature and crushes it to death. But his son is already wailing in pain.

Juana picks the child up and tries to suck out the venom from the wound. Coyotito’s crying had drawn in some neighbours including Kino’s brother Juan Tomas and his wife Apolonia. As the child’s cry begins to wane, Juana asks Kino to call for the doctor, to the surprise of the gathered neighbours. It is an unheard-of thing that the doctor ever visits the poor section of the village. Kino tells her that he doubts the doctor will come to them, and they take the wounded child to the doctor’s instead, the gathered neighbours on their heels. They get to the doctor’s, and one native working as a servant to the doctor goes to inform the doctor of their presence.

Chapter 2

Kino and Juana go out to the sea, desperately hoping that they will have the good fortune of finding a pearl that will be worth the payment the doctor requires for the treatment of their Coyotito. The shores are vibrantly alive with all sorts of aquatic life. Animals forage the shorelines for prospects of edible flotsam. Kino put out his canoe, a family inheritance that had been passed down to him from his grandfather. It is both his only valuable item of property and a source of sustenance for his family. Juana lays Coyotito in the canoe and covers him with a shawl to shield him from the sun’s direct rays. Then she wades into the water and collects some seaweed which she applies to her son’s wound. She and Kino then get on the canoe and paddle out to the nearest oyster bed.

Kino dives in and collects some large shells, among them a particularly huge one with a certain peculiar glow. He gets back into the canoe, too excited to appraise his largest find, but ultimately rips it open. Out of breath with amazement, Juana lets out a shriek of sheer delight. Kino too overcome by the incredibility of their apparent fortune, lets out a scream of delight. The shell he had just cut open had yielded the biggest pearl he and his wife had ever seen in their entire life! The sound of their delighted excitement draws the attention of the other fishers, who speedily move toward their spot to see the cause of their excitement.

Chapter 3

The news of Kino’s newest fortune spreads fast so that by the time he gets home on that day, it has already become common knowledge that he has found the Pearl of the World. As the narrative voice puts it, ‘nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating with the news’. What’s more, every member of the town feels in some way that this pearl is supposed to benefit him, beggars, pearl dealers, the doctor, and the priest alike. The priest all of sudden remembers that the church is in need of certain repairs; the doctor declares that Coyotito is his patient; the beggars remember that a man so suddenly blessed by a fortune must be a generous man; and the pearl dealers daydream of getting a hold of the pearl to give their careers a fresh start. Kino and Juana are only too glad to have both family and friends who come share the joy of their happy fortune, unaware that not all come in good faith. Kino is full of ideas of what he wishes to do with his new fortune: a proper church wedding with his wife, better clothing for his family, formal education for his son and so on. All, including Kindo himself, are amazed at the unfaltering certainty in his declarations, as they gape at the pearl with mixed feelings of wonder and dread.

The priest visits and gives his blessing to Kino’s household, asking them to bear the church in mind as they enjoy their prosperity. Kino is overtaken with a sense of danger when the priest leaves. The doctor visits, in turn, claim that Coyotito’s state is getting worse, administering medication and guaranteeing to be back within an hour. The sense of danger overtakes Kino yet again as the doctor leaves. Meanwhile, he digs a hole and buries the pearl to better secure it. Shortly after, Coyotito’s condition becomes visibly worse. The doctor resurfaces soon enough and administers another medicine which puts the child to rest. He utters concerns that Kino’s fortune might be stolen and offers to keep it in his safe for him. Kino declines but becomes even more anxious about the safety of his pearl. He exhumes it from the initial spot and reburies it under his sleeping mat. He could barely get any sleep that night, and in the dead of night, he heard a prowler invade his house, apparently to steal the pearl. He goes after the invader with a weapon, getting wounded in the process. Juana attends to his injury, denouncing the pearl as a plague. But Kino reassures her that it is their sole path to prosperity.

Chapter 4

There is a stir in town over Kino’s going to sell his pearl. The dealers, no less than Kino himself, are so excited by the prospect, and the pearl divers suspend their day’s occupation to witness the business. When Kino sets out, he is trailed by a throng of neighbours who speculate endlessly about the possible outcomes of the imminent transaction. Kino’s brother Juan Tomas accompanies him, verbalizing his concerns that Kino might get cheated since they have no real measure of deciding what the true worth of the pearl may be. When they approach the dealers, they make ridiculous offers for the pearl, insisting that it is more an oddity fit for a museum than a commodity for the marketplace. Kino angrily rejects all their offers and declares that he would rather go sell his stuff in the capital city.

When he returns home, he reburies the pearl underneath his sleeping mat, wondering nervously about the prospect of going to the capital city for a fairer deal. His brother Juan Tomas comes in and tries to warn him against the predictable perils of going to the capital city as he is proposing, but Kino’s mind seems fully made up on the matter. That night Kino neither eats nor sleeps. He keeps a vigil guarding the pearl and his wife with him. Then suddenly, he senses a sinister movement, reaches for his knife, and makes for the door. In the darkness, a man attacks him, and he fights back. Before Juana can get to the scene, the intruder has fled, leaving behind a bleeding, half-conscious Kino sprawling on the ground. She attends to his wounds and implores him again to get rid of the pestilential pearl, but he insists they must make good the fortune, and are to set out on their canoe by morning to the capital.

Chapter 5

Kino is roused from his sleep by a certain proximate movement, and he espies by the light of a late moon, his wife Juana sneaking out into the night. She had removed the pearl and was going out to discard it. He goes after her in stealth, and when she hears him coming after her, she breaks into a run. He catches up with her just before she can hurl the pearl into the sea, grabs the pearl from her, punches her, and kicks her to the ground. As he moves away from her up the beach, a bunch of men attack him. A violent scuffle ensues between them, and he draws his knife as they knock the pearl off his hand.

Meanwhile, Juana gets up and, as she makes her way back home, sees the pearl lying on her path. She picks it up, wondering if she should not get right back to the task of getting rid of it after all. Just then, she notices two prostrate figures lying side by side in the road and recognizes one of them as her husband Kino. In the same instant, she realizes that the other fellow is dead by Kino’s doing. She drags the dead body into a bush and calms Kino, who is whining over the loss of his pearl, by showing him the pearl she had picked up. At the same time, she directs his mind to the more urgent danger. He had just killed a man, and they must flee.

While Juana hurries to the house to pick up Coyotito and Kino goes to get their canoe ready for the flight, the latter notices that a big hole has been ripped in his boat. In a sorrowful rage, he begins to hurry back home only to find as he approaches that his house is on fire. He runs towards the inferno and meets his wife halfway. She is bearing their son in her arm and confirms the arson. As the neighbours strive to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading, Kino and his family surreptitiously go to seek refuge at Juan Toma’s house.

From this place of refuge, they can hear the neighbours speculate that they had been killed in the fire. Kino tells his brother what had transpired and asks him to hide them in his house for a night while so he can work out a second escape plan. The following evening, Kino tells his brother that he plans to flee to the cities in the north. His brother warns him to stay clear of the coast as a search party will be prowling for him. Juan Tomas also learns that Kino still has and intends to hold on to his pearl, as the two families bid farewell, and Kino disappears into the night with his family.

Chapter 6

Kino and his family have set out on the arduous trip to the north, taking care not to leave any trails by which they may be followed in their wake. They stop briefly to take a rest. Juana is worried that they are being chased and asks Kino if he is really certain that the pearl is worth more than what had been offered. He explains that if it were otherwise, none of his attackers would have attempted to steal it from him. He gazes at the pearl and tries to forecast his future, but all he sees is bloodshed, and his family battered, even though he lies to Juana about this.

Soon enough, a group of three trackers approaches, and Kino readies his knife in case he has to use it. But the trackers seem to lose their lead and pass them by. Kino becomes fidgety and tells his wife to gather up her stuff so they can go on before the trackers can regain their lead. He is beginning to feel despondent and losing the will to continue the flight, and his wife chastises him for thinking of abandoning his family.

Along the way, Kino suggests his wife splits with him so he can divert the trackers, but Juana won’t hear of it. They get to a pool and refresh themselves. Kino tries some tricks to keep the trackers away, but it turns out they are still solidly on their trail. They ultimately arrive at the same pool where Kino and his family had refreshed themselves and equally refreshed themselves there. Then two of them lay down to get some rest while the third keeps a watch. Kino considers that if he can take out the sentinel, he and his family can get a chance to get away.

As he prepares to make good his plan, Coyotito cries out, suddenly waking one of the sleeping trackers. The sentinel is not sure whether the cry is human or that of a coyote, and he shoots in the general direction of the sound. At the same instance, Kino springs on the sentinel, stabbing him. He grabs his gun and knocks the tracker, who had just roused from sleep out. The third tracker attempts to flee and gets stopped short by a rifle shot from Kino. But it all turns out to be a futile victory as Coyotito had indeed been shot dead by the sentinel’s initial shot. Kino and Juana return to their village, where mourning their son. Kino finally gets rid of the pearl.

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