The Pearl by John Steinbeck (Summary and Review) - Minute Book Report

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This is a quick summary and analysis of The Pearl by John Steinbeck. This channel discusses and reviews books, novels, and short stories through drawing...poorly.

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.

Through Minute Book Reports, hopefully you can get the plot and a few relevant discussion points in just a couple of minutes.

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If you found this video helpful, please Like and Share the video with your friends. If you want to know what I’m currently reading, as well as watch other book summaries, please subscribe to the channel. Thanks.

MinuteBookReports
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Fun Fact: When Kino stops Juana from throwing the Pearl into the water, he actually beat her up. Literally struck her in the face.

abbaAbba.
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Coyotito’s life in a nutshell

1. Born

2. Bit by scorpion

3. Gets sick by cocaine

4. Falls off swinging box

5. Home is burned down

6. Forced to leave home

7. Gets shot

wqbfsvt
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Excellent video, you saved me from reading the book!

Rawle
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UGH THANK YOU ! (I have to write an essay about one of the characters and how they changed, but I never read the book 😂)

gang
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I found this after I read the whole book

rebekahmohney
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This was so helpful omg 😂. This was assigned to me two weeks ago and due tomorrow and I haven't read it yet

lianneaisha
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How does the writer present conflict between kino and the scorpion?

daisyturner
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Man your amazing. You deserve more subscribers!!

jacksparrow
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Oh noo, n the dream of sending coyotito to study shattered
When I finished reading tears rolled down

HungryForToysTV
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Man I wish I had this when I was growing up. The Pearl was a part of my summer reading list which I would be tested on when school started back. Needless to say I did not read the book. Test failed. Also that summer we had to read The Outsiders (which I loved) and another book which title escapes me that I also didn't read. Best off luck students. Although this is an amazing resource let me remind you nothing takes the place of actually reading the book and discovering the lessons and how the book makes you feel for yourselves. Happy reading :)

FirstTeamComedy
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I have a book report about this due tomorrow and I haven't read a page about the book but this just saved me tons. thanks so much💖💖

ramen
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On my first day of school I have to take a test on this book thanks

ReaprOnly
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Thanks! Helped me get a good feel for the motives, themes, and symbolism used it the book before a HUGE test

AaronGirma
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I live how you made the audio stereo as the summary is in the left and background music is in the right.

FMOLETTE
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Found my new favorite channel :').. No more reading

WillPlayzMC
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@Andi Meow
I've never heard of text-to-text connection before, but after looking it up, it's an interesting concept.  I would say that a good text connection to this story would be the parable in the Bible about the man who discovers a pearl or jewel in a field and sells everything to buy the field. 

Btw, I can't reply directly to your comment since it's not enabled.

MinuteBookReports
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Greed is great, look at the state of the world we live in, because of it. It will become even greater.

vinkata
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The pronunciation of ''Juana'' is like if it was with "H" jajaj I knew something was weird with the name... Anyway thank you, you have helped me with an exam...

paulalu
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The baby received medical attention from his mother; he did not need medical attention.  It was perceived that the baby needed colonial medical attention - that it was better.  Moving from the cultural beliefs of their heritage toward the cultural beliefs of the colonizers, the protagonists lose everything.

denisemccormack