The pearl door John Steinbeck

The Pearl
John Steinbeck

The story is about a poor Indian family. Kino, a fisherman, his wife Juana and their baby Coyotito lived in a brush house near the beach. They had a happy life together.
One day Coyotito is bitten by a scorpion. An adult could get very ill from the sting, but a baby could easily die from the poison. Juana decided to go to a doctor, but they didn’t get any help from him because he didn’t want to help poor Indians who had no money.
A solution to their problems would be to find a pearl, so that they could pay the doctor with it to save the baby’s life.
The swelling on Coyotito’s shoulder had continued up his neck and under his ear, and his face was puffed and feverish. But pearls are very rare to find, so if they would find one, they would be very lucky. Kino came down to the beach and he took his canoe to go search for a pearl. He took all the oysters he found and then he saw a very large oyster. In the oyster lay a pearl. It was the biggest pearl in the whole world.
Now that Kino found the Pearl of the World the news swept on past the brush houses and it washed in a foaming wave into the town of the rich people. All sorts of people grew interested in Kino. Kino and Juana were very happy because they thought everyone shared their joy. Now the doctor knew they had money he went to Coyotito to help him. He cured Coyotito.
In the evening Kino hid the pearl in the brush house, but at night a thief came in the house. Kino noticed him and shaded him away. Now Jana was very scared and said that the pearl is evil, it would destroy them. But Kino promised that he would sell the pearl and that they would be as happy as before.
The next day Kino wanted to sell the pearl. The pearl buyer looked at it and said that the pearl was valueless. Kino pretended that it was the greatest pearl in the world. To prove that the pearl buyer was right he called 3 others pearl buyers. They also said that the pearl was valueless. Kino thought that he had been scammed, and he decided to go to town with the pearl tomorrow.
That night someone attacked him again. Kino got wounded. He had a long deep cut in his cheek from ear to chin and he was only half conscious. Juana said again that the pearl was evil and that they needed to throw it away. But Kino didn’t want to listen.
Then Juana decided to throw it away herself. At night she arose while Kino was sleeping and went to the beach. Kino awoke and followed Juana. At the moment Juana wanted to throw the pearl in the sea, Kino took the pearl from her and struck her in the face with his fist. He went back in the brush house and heard a noise. He got attacked in the dark and in the fight Kino killed the man. Juana regained her conscience and went also back in the house. She saw two people lying in the house. One person was Kino and the other was the one who attacked Kino. Now Juana knew that their old life was gone forever. A death man in the path and Kino’s knife, dark bladed beside him, convinced her of the time Juana had been trying to rescue something of the old place, of the time before the pearl. But now it was gone and there was no retrieving it, she dragged the dead man into the shatter of the brush. After that she helped Kino. They needed to go away before daylight would come. They would go with the canoe, but they saw that a great hole had been knocked in the bottom and at that moment Kino also saw a flame. His house was burning down. They escaped and went to Kino’s uncle house, and begged for his help. Kino asked if he would hide him for a day and then at night they would disappear without anyone know about it. Kino’s uncle agreed.
That night they disappeared and walked all night and day. Carefully they tried to sweep the footprints were they had walked, because they knew that someone would go after them. At a moment they heard something. Kino saw three men. Kino hid himself and the men went away. But Kino knew they would come back soon so they decided to go into the mountains. In the mountains they found a cave where they could stay all night because the three men were back. The only way to get away from there was to kill them. He could kill two men but the third one escaped and he ran in the direction of the cave. At that moment Kino shot, the man was dead, but he heard a cry of death in the cave as well.
Juana and Kino went back to the house at the beach. He took the pearl and looked at it. In the surface of the pearl he saw Coyotito lying in the little cave with the top of his head shot off. The pearl was ugly; it was evil. Kino flung the pearl with all his might in the sea. Juana and Kino watched it go, winking and glimmering under the setting sun, than the pearl settled into the lovely green water and dropped toward the bottom. And the pearl lay on the floor of the sea. A crab scampering over the bottom raised a little cloud of sand, and when it settled the pearl was gone.