John Steinbeck and the Pearl

John Steinbeck was one of the most famous American writers of the 20^th century. He was born in 1902 in California. He studied at Stanford University. After that, he worked on a farm – he looked after cattle or he picked fruit. He wrote about poor farming families and their hard lives. He wrote most of his books during the hard times of the Great Depression. His most famous book about the Great Depression is called “The Grapes of wrath”. It is about people who emigrated from Europe to the USA because they were afraid of fascism. He also wrote about an ideal country and called this book “Eden”. He wrote many novels and stories, for example: “Of Mice and Men”. Many of Steinbeck’s novels were made into Hollywood films later. He even received a Nobel Prize for literature. He died in 1968. His plays are still played nowadays because they are interesting for people from all walks of life.

Now, let me tell you about his story, “The Pearl”.

“The Pearl” is an old Mexican folk story. It is very interesting and full of disaster. It is about a poor pearl diver named Kino. A scorpion stings his baby and Kino takes the baby to a doctor. Because Kino is very poor, the doctor doesn’t want to treat the baby. The next day, Kino finds a nice big pearl. At night somebody tries to steal the pearl. His wife wants to throw it back into to the sea, but Kino doesn’t want to because he wants to sell it. All of the buyers offer him small prices, because they all work for one man. Kino and his family have to hide in Kino’s brother’s house because hunters are following them. They later hide under a waterfall. One of the hunters ends up shooting the baby. The next day, full of disgust, Kino takes the pearl and throws it back into the water. The pearl disappears.