The Pearl

Juana is Kino’s wife. Diligent and attentive, she cares for Coyotito and tends to Kino’s wounds when he is injured. Juana is also resilient, able to “stand fatigue and hunger almost better than Kino" and guide their canoe “like a strong man” (10). Unlike Kino, Juana is not enamored of the pearl for long, and she encourages him to dispose of it on several occasions. She thus provides a reasonable, stabilizing counterbalance to Kino’s more erratic disposition. Juana also seems to be more faith oriented than Kino, as she prays regularly, adopting phrases and techniques from Christianity while retaining some of her native cultural beliefs.

Juana’s transformation through the narrative is subtle but significant. After initially celebrating Kino’s discovery of the pearl, she predicts that the pearl will bring ruin to them as early as Chapter 3. Convinced that she is right, Juana subsequently attempts to get rid of the pearl herself, though Kino forcefully stops her. Only after Kino has killed someone, separating the two of them permanently from their old life, does Juana give up her efforts to dispose of the pearl. Once she has made up her mind in this new direction, she remains fully loyal to Kino, refusing even to separate herself from him in the hopes of protecting Coyotito. Following the baby’s death, however, it is implied that Juana questions and regrets her choices. As she returns to La Paz, “her wide eyes stared inward on herself. She was as remote and as removed as Heaven” (93). The fact that she now walks beside Kino, not behind him, suggests that their marriage is now on more equal footing.

Coyotito is Kino and Juana’s infant son. Though he is essentially passive, Coyotito plays a significant role. His scorpion sting sets off a chain of events that lead to Kino’s discovery of the pearl. Throughout the main action of the novella, Coyotito serves as a motivating figure in Kino’s thoughts. At one point, while he sleeps, Kino dreams “that Coyotito could read, that one of his own people could tell him the truth of things” (42). Coyotito thus represents Kino’s hope for deliverance from the ignorance and exclusion that allow the exploitation of his people to continue. Coyotito’s death when he is mistaken for a coyote highlights the harsh reality that Kino and his family are being hunted as animals and marks the end of Kino’s aspirations towards a better life.

The doctor is a European settler who lives in La Paz and provides medical care to other rich settlers. The doctor is first introduced sitting in bed eating chocolates. Despite his comfortable situation in that moment, his “mouth droop[s] with discontent” (16). The reason soon becomes clear: Having once lived in France, the doctor’s “whole subsequent life was memory and longing for France” (16). In the pearl, then, the doctor sees a chance to return and live stylishly in France. That he would need to obtain the pearl through subterfuge is no deterrent since he views Kino as an inferior racial other. The doctor’s hypocrisy is revealed as his opinion towards Kino changes based on how much money he expects to make. At first, he refuses to see Kino, who doesn’t have enough money to pay for Coyotito’s treatment. Later, after hearing about the pearl, he pays Kino a visit, though he pretends not to know about the pearl. Overall, the doctor represents the moral degradation and insatiable appetites associated with the colonial project.

The priest is a religious leader in La Paz. If the doctor represents the hypocrisy and overt excesses of colonialism, the priest demonstrates subtler, more insidious techniques of manipulation and control. Instead of dehumanizing the Native Mexicans, as some of his peers do, the priest infantilizes them: “Children, he considered these people, and he treated them like children” (33). Using the church as a shield against criticism, the priest attempts to profit from the pearl. During his visit to Kino’s brush house, his words are filled with empty expressions of goodwill, even as he hints that Kino ought to donate a portion of the pearl’s value to the church. Juana’s sincere response in that moment, along with Kino and Juan Tomás’s later discussion of the details of one of the priest’s sermons, demonstrates the pervasiveness of the church’s influence.

The pearl dealers are businessmen who purchase pearls from Kino and the other divers, reselling them at a profit elsewhere. At some time in the past, there were several independent dealers who bid against each other. More recently, however, the pearl dealers have conglomerated to work for a single company, forming a buyer’s monopoly, though they still pretend to compete against each other. This allows them to purchase pearls at even lower prices. The pearl buyers’ determination to maintain a positive façade is exemplified in the individual who bargains with Kino for his pearl; he is “fatherly and benign, and his eyes twinkle[] with friendship” (52). The coin trick the pearl buyer practices under his desk symbolizes the larger sleight of hand he and the other dealers perform, while his fumbling the coin shows, just for a moment, his real feelings about the pearl. Though Kino and the others tend to demonize the pearl dealers, they are in fact low-level employees who receive no special bonus for their efforts. They thus represent the way that the colonists’ systemic exploitation of Native Mexicans relies on the complicity of rank-and-file workers.

The hunters (or trackers) are three men who pursue Kino and Juana after they leave La Paz. Two of the men scour the ground for signs of Kino’s movements, while the other rides on a horse and carries a rifle. The hunters are described in animalistic terms, including a comparison to “excited dogs on a warming trail” (79). Likewise, their hunting of Kino and his family as though they were animals highlights the corrupting influence of greed, which breaks down the norms of civilized society. The hunters’ possession of a rifle also inspires envy in Kino, who hopes to purchase a rifle after selling the pearl. While it is not clear who hires the hunters, their threat of violence through advanced weaponry, coupled with their willingness to take the pearl from Kino by force, marks them as representatives of the colonial system.

The story describes the people who beg for funds near the church in La Paz as “endless searchers after perfect knowledge of their fellow men” as they observe Juana and Kino’s procession to the doctor’s house (14). Their vantage point near the church enables them to read evidence of sin in the faces of those who come and go from confession. When news of the pearl reaches them, the beggars “giggle a little with pleasure” under the expectation that “there is no almsgiver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky” (29). They again join the procession when Kino visits the pearl buyers. As Steinbeck presents them, the beggars embody the pursuit of knowledge or information without purpose or intent. They pride themselves on understanding yet offer little that is practical or constructive.

Kino’s older brother, Juan Tomás, offers Kino counsel and advice throughout. As a trustworthy friend, Juan Tomás represents the combined wisdom and support of Kino’s family and culture, as when he recounts earlier failed attempts to supersede the pearl dealers’ exploitative system. He becomes a foil to Kino in taking a more resigned view of the situation, advising Kino to give up the pearl.