Due to their appearance, they have often been compared to the moon, and are said to have a calming, protective and strengthening effect on the wearer. Throughout the centuries, pearls have been associated with wealth, femininity, purity, wisdom, patience and peace.
Even today, this view that a black pearl symbolizes love persists. Legend has it that Oro, a Polynesian god of fertility and peace, gifted a black pearl to his beloved. What does the black pearl symbolize?īlack pearls are often associated with everlasting love and therefore are an ideal symbolic gift to a loved one. Like Kino, Juana is at first seduced by the greed the pearl awakens, but she is much quicker than Kino to recognize the pearl as a potential threat. Juana is loyal and submissive, obeying her husband as her culture dictates, but she does not always agree with his actions. What kind of person is Juana in the pearl? What is a metaphor in the Pearl? What are the major themes in the Pearl? Because parables offer a moral lesson, being grateful for the things one already has serves as the theme. Lesson Summary The Pearl is a parable, a moral lesson, about gratitude and the dangers of greed. In this way it is a metaphor for fortune and the luck that produces it makes it valuable to human beings. It is an accident of the natural world, the product of the interactions between a tiny grain of sand and an oyster. The most obvious symbol in the story is the pearl itself. Pearls symbolize wisdom acquired through experience. It comes to us complete and lustrous created by God through nature, as is the kingdom of heaven, which only God could create and perfect. Juana also symbolizes the family’s domestic happiness the scene in which Kino beats her for trying to cast off the pearl thus represents Kino’s tragic break from the family he longs to support. In fact, Juana comes to view the pearl as a symbol of evil. Here are examples of this irony of situation: When Kino finds the Pearl of the World, he hears “the music of the pearl” and expects his life to improve tremendously. The greatest of ironies in The Pearl is that of situational irony, the discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. The transformation from an innocent, idyllic heaven of wealth and perfection to a damaging force of darkness develops the theme of the destructive nature of greed. The pearl, known as the “Pearl of the World”, is the focal symbol of the novel. What is the symbolic transformation of the pearl in the novel? This lesson will review the symbolic scorpion, canoe, and pearl in this parable. In ‘The Pearl,’ author John Steinbeck uses symbolism to deliver his thoughts about fate, greed, hope, and evil. It seems all the greed and evil surfaces in the presence of wealth.
But like wealth, the pearl represents all the evil in the world. The pearl and what it holds of wealth represents a great potential for the family and so their ambitions grow big. When Kino first finds the pearl, it is a symbol of hope and salvation. It thus comes to symbolize the destructive nature of materialism. The pearl elicits more and more greed on Kino’s part, as he begins to devote all his energies and possessions to protecting it (recalling the biblical parable of the pearl of great price).
How does John Steinbeck use symbolism in the pearl?Īt first, the pearl represents a stroke of divine providence. Why is Kino happy in the Pearl by John Steinbeck?.What is the significance of the Pearl in the Pearl?.How is the Pearl a symbol of destruction?.What are the symbols in the Pearl by John Steinbeck?.What is the role of Juana in the pearl?.What kind of person is Juana in the pearl?.What are the major themes in the Pearl?.What does Juana symbolize in the pearl?.What is the symbolic transformation of the pearl in the novel?.What are the three symbols in the pearl?.How does John Steinbeck use symbolism in the pearl?.