The Pearl

I didn't realise until I actually came to read The Pearl that Steinbeck's novella is a retelling of a Mexican folk tale he himself had heard told whilst in Mexico. The central tale itself is therefore a relatively simple story, however it is also one with which I believe everybody could relate and I loved the way in which Steinbeck creates the world surrounding Kino and Juana. Their characters are completely believable throughout and I particularly liked the idea of the gathering neighbours all rushing to peer over their hedges at every opportunity.

The Pearl isn't a happy story and is essentially a moral tale illustrating the old maxim of 'be careful what you wish for'. However Steinbeck increases the scope to encompass the racism and derogatory treatment experienced by the native people at the hands of rich white immigrants. Kino and Juana's prayers seem to be answered when Kino surfaces grasping the biggest pearl ever seen. Now they can pay the white doctor, he surely will treat their baby son? I loved how graphically Steinbeck illustrates the lifestyle differences between the two communities, each actually dependent on the other yet almost totally separate. His prose is almost poetry or song in its repetition and the idea of Song is important in guiding Kino's actions.

I read this novella in French having spotted a copy at our local Little Library. It was one of the slimmest books there and I knew from having previously read Steinbeck that his writing style is generally quite clear and direct. This proved the case in translation too so La Perle was a perfect choice from a language-learning point of view. Despite needing to look up several words on each page I was still utterly gripped by the adventure. Plus I have now learned lots of new useful words such as etouffer (to stifle) and paletuvier (mangrove). Whether I will remember them next time I see them remains to be seen!

 I wish I hadn't gone to middle and high school when I did, which was the 1970s. Schools at the time were concerned about relevance, which is fine but it meant that in English class I'd be reading things like [a:Beatrice Sparks|69007|Beatrice Sparks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1488253428p2/69007.jpg]'s [b:Go Ask Alice|46799|Go Ask Alice|Beatrice Sparks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327870536l/46799.SX50.jpg|2115708], a fraudulent teenage girl's diary written by a Mormon youth counselor, and other books designed to make us sensitive, addiction-free teenagers instead of [b:Moby-Dick or, the Whale|153747|Moby-Dick or, the Whale|Herman Melville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327940656l/153747.SY75.jpg|2409320] and other great literature, like [a:John Steinbeck|585|John Steinbeck|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1182118389p2/585.jpg]'s [b:The Pearl|581697|The Pearl|John Steinbeck|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1205038728l/581697.SY75.jpg|195832].
 It's a short parable that even I could read in a few hours. It takes place on the Baja California Peninsula of Northwestern Mexico during the early part of the twentieth century, though the time is unclear. (There's no mention of cars or electricity, but there are rifles.) If you missed it like I did, read it. Don't let the fact that it is (or was ever) taught in high schools dissuade you. It's not a kids' book, and Steinbeck's writing is like a master class in how to write. Look at how he contrasts sea life and land life in the two paragraphs chosen almost at random below.

 The beach was yellow sand, but at the water's edge a rubble of shell and algae took its place. Fiddler crabs bubbled and sputtered in their holes in the sand, and in the shallows little lobsters popped in and out of their tiny homes in the rubble and sand. The sea bottom was rich with crawling and swimming and growing things. The brown algae waved in the gentle currents and the green eel grass swayed and little sea horses clung to its stems. Spotted botete, the poison fish, lay on the bottom in the eel-grass beds, and the bright-colored swimming crabs scampered over them.
 On the beach the hungry dogs and the hungry pigs of the town searched endlessly for any dead fish or sea bird that might have floated in on a rising tide.