a character whos actions you disapprove

Question 6

In the novel The Pearl by John Steinbeck, name a character whos actions you disapprove. Give reasons for your choice.

The novel that I have studied is ‘The Pearl’ written by John Steinbeck. The character whom actions I disapprove is Kino. Kino is portrayed as the main character who constantly perform tasks with his intuition.

Kino is a man who lives in poverty. He however, faces a paradigm shift when he finds a pearl as big as a seagull egg. Kino is in fact the sole provider of bread on the table who earns sufficient money through fishing and pearl hunting. Fortunately for him, his discovery of an enormous godsend pearl leads him to the lifestyle of the well-to-do. I strongly look askance at this as it breaks the the orthodox gap between the high society people behind the eight ball. I have a precognition that if it were to happen, it would certainly spark controversy and consequently cause complete chaos and utter mayhem.

His redundancy of not selling the pearl is also another debatable aspect. Kino was at a profound level of joy when he was off to sell the pearl. Many refused to buy the pearl as it was too big in size, showing avid yet apathetic interest. The fat man haphazardly said "I will offer five hundred pesos..."(page 50). Despite the high offer, Kino was selfish enough to stand strong at his offer of 1000 pesos. In my opinion, his selfishness purely negative which only leads him to more hardships and dilemmas in life.

One more action of Kino in which I disapprove is his stubbornness to let go of the pearl. His stubbornness caused his family to face flaunting situations. There are many greedy pearl buyers who desires the pearl to be in the possession of themselves. They did whatever it possibly took them to do so, to the extent of hiring trackers to kill Kino and his family. The trackers never stopped until they complete what they were payed to do, get the pearl. Kino could have surrendered the pearl to them and get a way with his family, but he did contrariwise. Besides that, Kinos stubbornness also uprooted anger and displeasure in the hearts of pearl buyers. They set up Kino's house on fire which ultimately causes Kino and his family to be homeless. They had to burden Juan Thomas by staying with them in their ever so small house. His stubbornness caused nothing less than more hitches and hindrances in his own life.

Apart from that, I strongly reprehend his actions towards his own wife. In the night, Kino fights back Juana violently when he heard Juana's idea to dispose off the pearl. She states that the pearl is the root of all evil as she said "Kino, the pearl is evil. Let us destroy it before it destroys us." (page 55). Instead of listening to his advisable wife, he retaliates in the form of physical abuse. He punches her in the face and she falls. Subsequently, he kicks her in the side. I personally think he provoked a family feud far too much to be in the bounds of forgiveness. Yet, Juana remained faithful to him. He not only did villainous act towards his own wife but also towards a strange unidentified man. On his way home after running away with the pearl, he had a peculiar subconscious feeling. He instantaneously strikes that man with his knife. It stabbed him. He did something far to cruel without even thinking twice, deciding the end of someones life. I resent wholeheartedly his actions of killing a man.

To the point, short and sweet, I disapprove many actions of Kino throughout the novel, his determination to change his life, his stubbornness in not selling the pearl, his redundancy of not letting go of the pearl, and his viciousness towards his own wife and strangers. The failure of acting to an acceptable degree would just make things worse.

BY MITRAN M. KIANDEE