This is a story about a man named Kino, a
poor pearl diver who lives with his wife,
Juana, and their newborn, Coyotito.
One night, a scorpion stings Coyotito as he
is sleeping.
Despite Juana's attempts to suck out the poison,
the baby screams and needs medical attention.
Kino and his family walk to the nearest doctor
to request aid, but the doctor refuses to
help them because they are poor.
To help pay for the doctor's services, Kino
goes pearl diving in hopes to find a pearl
that will get them the money they need.
As he dives, he sees a large oyster and brings
it back to his boat.
After opening it, he discovers a large pearl,
which he deems "The Pearl of the World."
The town quickly celebrates this discovery,
but then Kino becomes paranoid and suspicious
of his neighbors.
In fact, at night, he fights off intruders
who try to steal the pearl.
Kino walks into town to sell the pearl to
the pearl dealers.
However, the pearl dealers try to lowball
him, saying that the pearl is so big that
no one will want it.
Kino begins to doubt the pearl's worth, but
decides to sell it at the capitol himself.
That evening, Juana tries to dispose of the
pearl, but Kino stops her.
However, there is a mysterious attacker that
tries to steal the pearl.
In the struggle, Kino kills the man.
Returning to the village, they find that their
home has been ransacked and destroyed.
Panicked, Kino decides they must travel quickly
to the capitol before more people try to attack
them.
They go through the mountains, but realize
that they are being followed by three men,
two trackers and a man on horse with a gun.
Realizing that the trackers will eventually
catch up to them, Kino decides that he must
kill the men.
He sneaks up on them, but then hears Coyotito
crying in the distance.
The man with the gun fires a shot in the direction
of the crying and Kino takes that opportunity
to attack the men.
He kills them all.
In the end, Kino and Juana return to the village
with a dead Coyotito, who suffered a gunshot
to the head, and toss the pearl back into
the ocean.
First, readers will discover that the characters
in the story are connected through music,
not just to each other, but to nature.
Kino and Juana note that everything has a
song.
And while there are physical things in this
world that create sound and music, like birds,
not everything makes sounds, yet Kino still
can "hear" their songs.
So it seems that the music or song that each
thing resonates is more figurative than literal.
People can often create connections on an
emotional level with objects and people, a
parallel similar to the connectivity of music.
As demonstrated through Kino's own struggle
with greed, readers, too, must wrestle with
this vice.
The author sets forth an interesting idea:
It is human nature that if we are given one
thing, we will always want more.
That the greed to consume is in our nature.
However, the author also suggests that it
is perhaps this greed that truly separates
humans from all other animals.
And it is this commentary on our appetites,
both for sustenance and material things, that
is noteworthy.
Perhaps greed is good?
Lastly, there is an emphasis on the power
of reading and education.
Throughout the story, Kino hopes that his
son will be given the opportunity to learn
to read because he recognizes the disadvantage
of being uneducated and ignorant in a society
where knowledge is power.
For their poor town, anything that is told
to them must be taken as the truth, as there
is no way for them to confirm or check if
what they are being told is true or not.
If the pearl buyers say that the market for
pearls is bad, the pearl divers must believe
them and sell their stock at lower prices.
So too, readers should recognize that ignorance
is more detrimental than for its own sake.
Without access to knowledge, whether through
self or others, the world becomes a dark place.
