Summary of The Pearl
Kino, Juana, and their baby, Coyotito, live in a brush house by the sea in Mexico. One morning, a scorpion stings Coyotito. Kino and Juana rush him to the doctor in town, and when they arrive at the doctor’s gate, they are turned away because of their race and because they don’t have enough money. Later, Kino takes out the family’s canoe, and goes out to sea to search for a pearl big enough to pay for the baby’s medication. Juana’s prayers for finding a big pearl were answered when Kino comes up to the surface with the biggest pearl either of them have ever seen. In the afternoon, everyone in the neighborhood came to congratulate the family’s find, and Kino plans with the money he will get from selling the pearl, to have a church wedding and get his son an education. That evening, the local priest visits Kino to bless him in his good fortune, and a little bit later, the doctor arrives to cure Coyotito. He gives the baby a powdered capsule, which poisons him, and says he will return in an hour. While the doctor is away, Coyotito grows very ill and Kino buries the pearl under the floor in a corner of the house. When the doctor returns, he feeds Coyotito a potion to calm his spasms, and Kino tells him that they will pay the amount when they sell the pearl. Before going to bed, Kino buries the pearl under his sleeping mat, and during the night, a stranger comes into the house, digging in one of the corners, looking for the pearl. Kino’s attempt to chase away the intruder left him bleeding. Juana insists that the pearl is evil and that they should abandon it. The next morning, Kino and Juana go to the town to sell the pearl. Kino’s brother, Juan Tomás, tells Kino to be cautious of the cheaters, the buyers who try to buy a pearl for a very low price, when it is worth much more. All the buyers were trying to cheat on Kino, but he refused the offers, and makes the decision of going to the capital to sell the pearl. As Kino and Juana prepare to go to the capital in the evening, Juan Tomás cautions Kino to not be too proud. Juana also tells Kino again that they should forget about the pearl, but Kino tells her that he is a man and will take care of everything. Strongly believing that the pearl is evil, Juana takes the pearl in the middle of the night, and just as she was about to throw it back into the ocean, Kino tackles, takes the pearl, and beats his wife and leaves her on the ground. And as he walks to the brush house, a group of men appear, trying to take the pearl. Kino fight them, and kills one of them, causing the rest to run away, but while fighting, drops the pearl. As Juana gets up, she sees the pearl lying on the ground, and farther away, she sees Kino lying next to the dead man. Juana gives him the pearl, and said that even though he didn’t mean to kill the person, he will be labeled as a murderer, and decide to run away. Kino goes to the shore to prepare the canoe while Juana went home to get Coyotito and their belongings. When Kino arrives at the shore, he finds his canoe destroyed. Then, when climbing a hill, he sees a big fire, and realizes that his house was burning down. Kino and Juana go to Juan Tomás’s house and hide there for the rest of the day. Juan Tomás and his wife, Apolonia agree to keep them hidden while the other neighbors think that the family is dead. When the night came, Kino, Juana, and Coyotito started their journey to the capital. They travel until dawn, then take shelter in a bush beside the road. They sleep for most of the day, until Kino discovers that three trackers are following them. After waiting a little bit, Kino decides to run up to the mountains, hoping to lose the trackers. Their climbing led them to a water source, where they rest and take shelter in a cave. Kino attempts to lose the trackers by making a fake trail up the mountain. Later, Kino, Juana, and Coyotito hide in the cave and wait for their chance to go back down the mountain. The trackers come slow and reach the mountain at sunset. They make camp and one watches their surroundings while the other two sleep. Kino decides to kill them before the late moon rises. He goes out naked to avoid being seen and sneaks up to a distance where he can attack. Just when Kino prepares to attack, Coyotito lets out a cry, which wakes up the sleepers. One of them fires his rifle i the direction of the cry, and Kino attacks and kills the trackers. Then, Kino slowly realizes that the rifle shot and killed Coyotito in the cave. The next day, Kino and Juana go back to the town, with Juana carrying her dead son over her shoulder. They walk to the sea and Kino pulls out the pearl from his clothing. He takes one last, hard look at it, and throws the pearl back into the sea.