character trait poster KINO

From Happiness to Despair

Thesis statement : In The Pearl, Steinbeck shows the reader that poverty can cause people to hope for a better life but money can also make them corrupt, desperate and suffer more.

The Character Evolution of Kino in The Pearl by Steinbeck

Content

At the beginning of the novel, when Kino and Juana are eating breakfast, the narrator says « Kino sighed with satisfaction - and that was conversation. »This shows that Kino and Juana understand eachother even without talking.It is clear that Kino is happy and « satisfied » with his life.

Naive

Deluded

Paranoid

Corrupted

After Coyotito is stung by the scorpion Kino goes to the doctor's house and says « The little one – the first born – has been poisoned by the scorpion. He requires the skill of a healer ». By saying this it is evident that Kino is naive because he thinks that the greedy and selfish doctor is going to save the child in exchange of « valueless »grey pearls.

In chapter 3 after Kino finds « the pearl of the world » Kino begin to be deluded by the pearl which « cozened kino's brain. » The narrator says « And the beauty of the pearl, winking and glimmering in the light of the little candle, cozenzed his brain with its beauty. So lovely it was, so soft, and its own music came from it – its music of promise and delight,its guarantee of the future, of comfort, of security. » It is clear that the pearl tricks him to belive that he will have a better life.

Desperate

After the attack, where someone has tried to take the pearl, Kino begins to be intensely fearful and distrustful.The narrator says « His eyes were entranced, and he could sense the wary, watchful evil outside the brush house ; he could feel the dark creeping things waiting for him to go out into the night.» And so Kino is afraid of everything and doesn't trust anyone. He thinks that evil is everywhere. This reveals that he is paranoid.

In chapter 5 when Kino and Juana have to leave because Kino killed a man Kino says, “the pearl has become my soul,” This reveals that he is corrupt because he is being changed by the pearl that has an evil influence on him. He can’t be seperate from the pearl because the pearl is his “soul”.

After Kino killed his son he begins to be angry and deeply sad. The narrator says « Kino's lips were thin and his jaws tight,and the people say that he carried fear with him, that he was as dangerous as a rising storm ».This shows that his sadness is making him desperate and angry and the metaphor « as a rising storm » shows that he is dangerous.

Andréa Rajakovic