The Pearl (ORR 5)

    


Title: The Pearl
Author: John Steinbeck
Genre: Fiction, Novel
Comments: During the break, I finished reading 'The Pearl'. If you do not want to know how the book ends, please do NOT read this. As a matter a fact, you should NOT read this because the ending of 'The Pearl' is sad, unexpected and surprising. You should finish the book and find out on your own. But if you still want to read on, after I tried my best to convince you NOT too, well, here it goes...


At the end of chapter four, Kino and Juana decide that they are being cheated by the pearl buyers and agree that they will go to the capital, and sell the Pearl of the World.
In the very beginning of chapter five, Kino wakes up in the middle of the night and surprises Juana creeping out of the brush house. He follows her and when she is about to throw the pearl into the deep water, he jumps, slaps her, and kicks her on her side. Right after that, Kino gets attacked and kills a man.
Whilst Kino and Juana are settling the fight, and the murder, their house is set on fire. They find protection in Juan Tomás' house and leave the village that same night. 
In chapter six, the last chapter of the book, John Steinbeck explains us how the family escapes and how hard it is when you do not want to leave any tracks. We learn that three trackers are after them, probably to kill Kino and take the pearl. The family realizes that even if they try to hide their tracks, the trackers will find them easily. 
In the very last pages of the book, the trackers are very close to finding Kino and there is no escape. He has a plan that involves killing them, and taking their riffle. If his plan works, he kills the trackers but if hid plan does not work, he gets killed instead. But for those who read on, even though I specified NOT to, well, tough luck I won't tell you if the plan worked or not! ;)