A novel I have recently read and enjoyed is "The Pearl" written by John Steinbeck. The novel tells the story of a lower class family who strike lucky and find a large pearl. It shows the major changes in Kino's character throughout the novel.
The novel is briefly about a young lower class family who live in a brush house near the beach in La Paz, Mexico. The main character Kino lives with his wife Juana and his baby Coyotito. Coyotito then gets stung at the beginning of the novel by a scorpion and Kino then takes him to see a doctor, but the doctor refuses to see him because he doesn't have money to give the doctor for treating Coyotito and he's of a different race. So Kino and Juana go out on the canoe to find some pearls so that they can sell them and get the baby cured. They come across one big pearl and Kino becomes too greedy and puts his family in danger and eventually this leads to Coyotito's death. .
At the beginning of the novel Kino is a normal, happy lower class man who cares a lot for his family. He loved wakening up in the morning to the "little splash of the morning waves" and to watch his wife mke the breakfast. .
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Although he is poor he is a happy man because he has his family around him. Part in the novel, which shows that Kino wants to protect his family, is that after the scorpion had bitten Coyotito. .
"Then snarling, Kino had it, had it in his finger, rubbing it to a paste in his hands.".
This shows that Kino is very protective and caring towards his family by killing the scorpion after it had harmed his baby.
Although Kino is caring he also has a slight temper as is shown after the baby had been stung. One other incident of this is when Kino takes the baby to see the doctor, he "struck the gate a crashing blow with his fist- Although Kino has reacted violently this does not make me dislike him as I think this is a normal reaction. Even though he has been refused to see the doctor this makes him more determined to get Coyotito better by going out on the canoe with Juana to search for pearls so they can sell them for the money he needs to pay for the doctor.
