What is the moral lesson of the Pearl?
Lesson Summary The Pearl is a parable, a moral lesson, about gratitude and the dangers of greed. Because parables offer a moral lesson, being grateful for the things one already has serves as the theme.
What are the main themes in the Pearl?
Themes
- Greed as a Destructive Force. As Kino seeks to gain wealth and status through the pearl, he transforms from a happy, contented father to a savage criminal, demonstrating the way ambition and greed destroy innocence.
- The Roles of Fate and Agency in Shaping Human Life.
- Colonial Society’s Oppression of Native Cultures.
Why is the pearl evil?
If the pearl in the final lines of the novel is described as being “grey and ulcerous,” and evil, this is only because it has been made evil by the greed of man. In a sense, the pearl therefore acts as a mirror of the men that yearn for it.
What is the irony in the Pearl?
The greatest of ironies in The Pearl is that of situational irony, the discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Here are examples of this irony of situation: When Kino finds the Pearl of the World, he hears “the music of the pearl” and expects his life to improve tremendously.
What is the religion in the Pearl?
Religion in The Pearl is an amalgamation of the natives’ belief in superstition, luck, and “the gods” with the colonizing Europeans’ faith in one “God.” The novel effectively asks “what’s the difference?” especially given the detachment and indifference of divine power to human suffering.
Why did Juana pray for a pearl?
Juana prays that Kino can find a pearl so he can pay the doctor to heal Coyotito. Juana is more superstitious than religious, because in chapter 1, she repeated an ancient magic, to protect Coyotito, and in chapter 2, she prayed for Kino to find a pearl to pay the doctor.
Who does Juana pray to in the Pearl?
Instead of praying for Coyotito to heal magically, which seems an impossible occurrence, Juana prays for Kino to find a pearl large enough to pay for the doctor’s services, an occurrence that is only improbable.
What did Kino find why is it so important the Pearl?
Kino and Juana walk slowly down the beach to Kino’s canoe, the one thing of value that he owns. The canoe is old, bought by Kino’s grandfather, and is the source of food for Kino. Kino and Juana get into the canoe so that Kino can find pearl oysters that may pay for the treatment for Coyotito.
How big was the pearl Kino found?
The pearl Kino finds is described as being significantly large: “It was as large as a sea-gull’s egg.
How many pearl dealers look at Kino’s pearl?
Presently, three new dealers arrive to examine the pearl, and the initial dealer invites them to make independent appraisals. The first two dealers reject the pearl as a mere oddity, and the third dealer makes a feeble offer of five hundred pesos.
What did Kino see in the Pearl?
Kino stares at the pearl to read his future. He lies to Juana, telling her that he sees a rifle, a marriage in a church, and an education for Coyotito. In truth Kino sees a body bleeding on the ground, Juana making her way home through the night after being beaten, and Coyotito’s face swollen as though he were sick.
Why did Hester name her daughter Pearl?
A beautiful flower growing out of sinful soil, Pearl is so named because she was “purchased with all [Hester] had—her mother’s only treasure!” Because “in giving her existence a great law had been broken,” Pearl’s very being seems to be inherently at odds with the strict rules of Puritan society.
What do the townspeople think of Pearl?
Townspeople believe Pearl is the incarnation of the Devil, while Hester believes Pearl is the physical embodiment of her sin. Hester believes that, while society punishes her for sinning, God has a different reaction.
Why does Hester dress pearl so nicely?
Just as the scarlet “A” that Hester is forced to wear is turned by her skill with the needle into a symbol of beauty and finery, so Pearl, the illegitimate child of an illicit and unlawful union, is a figure of beauty and is arrayed in all finery by her mother.
Who does Pearl say made her?
Expert Answers Hover for more information. When the minister asks Pearl who made her, Pearl doesn’t want to tell him at first. She knows what her mother has told her — that she was a child of God and that God had made her.
What does pearl call Chillingworth?
But he cannot catch little Pearl! The Puritans often referred to the Devil as the Black Man, referring figuratively to the darkness of sin and evilness of deeds. Thus, when Pearl calls Chillingworth by this appellation, she seems to be identifying his sinfulness and wickedness.
Why does Pearl wash off Dimmesdale’s kiss?
Why does Pearl wash off Dimmesdale’s kiss? He smells funny. She is afraid of him. He refuses to acknowledge her in public.
Does Pearl know who her father is?
Pearl clearly senses her father as Dimmesdale; she kisses him in the end. Hester makes one vague reference to Dimmesdale when Pearl asks her mother if she ever saw the black man of the forest.
How does Pearl become wealthy?
How does Pearl become wealthy? She discovers pirates’ treasure. She marries the governor’s son. She inherits Chillingworth’s estate and marries a nobleman.
Why does pearl not recognize her mother?
Pearl does not recognize her mother because Hester has removed the scarlet letter and put her hair down. Having resolved to leave America and start a new life in Europe with Dimmesdale, Hester has finally felt confident enough to rid herself of the public symbol of her shame.
What happens to Pearl at the end of the novel?
In a rather ironic ending, Pearl, the “elf-child” becomes the most human in the final scaffold scene. Having inherited property from Chillingworth, she has become the “richest heiress of her day, in the New World.” With such riches, she may have married well, but her mother has taken her away to Europe.
What does Pearl to do her father when he confesses his sin at the end of the novel?
At the end of the novel, what does Pearl do to her father when he confessed his sin at the end of the novel? Pearl kisses him on the lips. What does Roger Chillingworth pretend to be and why? Roger Chillingworth pretends to be Minister Dimmesdale’s friend and physician so that he can get revenge on him.