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The Pearl by John Steinbeck

The moral of The Pearl is this: poor people are too stupid to be trusted with a windfall.

Actually, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the moral Steinbeck intended to teach. He was probably going for something more along the lines of “money doesn’t bring happiness,” or “be careful what you wish for.” But it all pretty much leads to the same place.

It’s like those people who win the lottery, and become multi-millionaires overnight, only to end up blowing through the money in, like, a year, and then go on Dr. Phil to whine about how their riches didn’t bring them happiness.

I’ve always hated those people. Now me, I’d be a fabulous lottery winner. I’d salt all of the money away and live off the interest, and life would be just ducky. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: money can buy you happiness. And anyone who tells you differently doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

Which brings me back to The Pearl. The story is a simple one. Kino and his wife, Juana, are poor Mexican peasants. Their baby, Coyotito, is bitten by a scorpion. The greedy town doctor won’t treat the baby, because he’s too busy lying about in bed, dreaming of getting drunk and laid in Paris. Desperate to save Coyotito, Kino – a diver – goes looking for a pearl to pay the doctor with. And he finds not just any pearl, but The Pearl, a beautiful and rare specimen that will make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Kino’s life promptly turns to shit – people start attacking him to steal The Pearl, he beats the crap out of his wife, the doctor poisons his baby. Things go from bad to worse, and there’s the requisite unhappy ending.

The story moves along at a brisk pace, the writing is clear and evocative, the characters are defined. And yet, it’s certainly not the sort of book you lose yourself in. Instead, you remain at a distance, too aware of all of the symbolism (especially music; music is a big theme . . . we know this because Steinbeck is not subtle about bringing it up on nearly every freaking page) and that something Bad is going to happen to Kino and his family now that they have the Pearl.

So I’m giving the book a B. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se, but the meh factor brings it down a few notches.

More on The Reading Project here.

Posted 02 May 2006 at 08:36 AM